Six months on, key measures languish in Pacific Islands pact with US
Voice of America
FILE - Marshall Islands Foreign Affairs Minister Jack Ading, Palau President Surangel Whipps, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Micronesian President Wesley Simina meet in Washington on Sept. 26, 2023. A March 2024 pact among the four nations awaits full implementation.
More than six months after a crucial security deal between Washington and some Pacific Island nations was signed into law, key features of the Compacts of Free Association have not been implemented, raising questions in the region about U.S. commitment to its Pacific partners in the face of an increasingly assertive Beijing.
FILE - This photograph taken on Jan. 14, 2023, shows a border checkpoint between China and Myanmar, in Ruili, west Yunnan Province.
The logo of Google LLC is shown on a building in San Diego, California, Oct.9, 2024.
Supporters of Israeli hostages, kidnapped during the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas, demand a deal as they protest amid ongoing negotiations for a ceasefire in Gaza, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Jan. 13, 2025.
Balochistan province, Pakistan
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South Korea's main opposition Democratic Party lawmaker Jung Chung-rae, center, speaks to reporters as opposition lawmakers arrive at the Constitutional Court in Seoul on Jan. 14, 2025.
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Electric (EVs) and hybrid vehicles wait to be transported in a distribution center of Chinese state-owned automobile manufacturer Changan in southwest China's Chongqing municipality, Jan. 12, 2025.
Zamfara state, Nigeria
FILE - Judge Nawaf Salam, president of the International Court of Justice, speaks at the ICJ at the start of a hearing in The Hague, Netherlands, May 16, 2024.
Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan
An Indian paramilitary soldier patrols near an electronic display in Srinagar, welcoming the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to inaugurate a strategic tunnel project that connects Kashmir with Ladakh, Jan.13, 2025.
FILE - Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian shake hands during their meeting on the sidelines of BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia, Oct. 23, 2024.
The Mozambican Presidential Military band walk next to an armoured Police vehicle near Parliament in Maputo on Jan. 13, 2025. Mozambique is set to swear in its new parliament on Jan. 13, 2025, following months of deadly protests over an election in October. FILE - Daniel Chapo, then-presidential candidate for the Mozambican Liberation Front party (FRELIMO), gestures as he addresses an electoral meeting with supporters and leaders of his party in Maputo, on Oct. 2, 2024.