Japan, South Korea & Pacific
Assessment
The 45th Pacific Islands Forum in Koror, Palau closed on Sept 5 with a 76-paragraph communique that split partners into two tiers, 13 strategic partners with leader-level access and the rest at ministerial level, and on Sept 4 registered concern over China's July ballistic missile test across Micronesian, Nauruan and Kiribati waters without naming China. Leaders of Fiji, Kiribati, New Caledonia, Samoa and Vanuatu stayed away, and Taiwan's foreign minister and China's envoy sat in the same room for the first time since relations soured. Australia reached an in-principle treaty with Solomon Islands carrying about A$980 million in extra funding, reported on Sept 7 to Sept 9, and is pressing to sign it after Prime Minister Matthew Wale survived a no-confidence motion, with no signature confirmed as of Sept 15. Japan is revising its three security documents by the end of 2026 after requesting a record 8.89 trillion yen defence budget for FY2027, and the US, Japan and South Korea concluded the five-day Freedom Edge exercise off Jeju on Sept 11.
Recent, assessed
- 2026-09-09Australia and Solomon Islands reach an in-principle treaty with about A$980 million (US$706 million) in extra Australian funding, expected to be signed within weeks. taipeitimes.com
- 2026-09-05The Pacific Islands Forum in Koror closes with a 76-paragraph communique creating two partnership tiers; leaders of Fiji, Kiribati, New Caledonia, Samoa and Vanuatu were absent and Solomon Islands PM Wale left early over a no-confidence motion. devpolicy.org
Level history
Levels set by research reviews. A level set by hand is shown at the top of the page while it is in force and is not part of this history.
| Date | Level | Status | Trend | Review |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-09-15 | 2 | Watch | ■ stable | Weekly review |
| 2026-09-14 | 2 | Watch | ■ stable | Weekly review |
| 2026-09-12 | 2 | Watch | ■ stable | Weekly review |
| 2026-09-12 | 2 | Watch | ■ stable | Baseline |
Latest headlines 86
Matched to this entry by keyword from the pull of 19 Sep, 11:09 UTC. Not reviewed; some may be off-topic.
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