Fiji has experienced many coups recently,in 1987,2000,and 2006. Fiji has been suspended various times from the Commonwealth of Nations,a grouping of mostly former British colonies. It was readmitted to the Commonwealth in December 2001,following the parliamentary election held to restore democracy in September that year,and has been suspended again because of the 2006 coup,but has been readmitted a second time after the 2014 election. Other Pacific Island governments have generally been sympathetic to Fiji's internal political problems and have declined to take public positions.
The foreign relations of New Zealand are oriented chiefly toward developed democratic nations and emerging Pacific Island economies. Until the late 20th century,New Zealand aligned itself strongly with the United Kingdom and had few bilateral relationships with other countries. From the latter half of the 20th century,Australia has been New Zealand's most important cultural,economic and military partner. Today,the country participates in several multilateral political organisations,including Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation,the Pacific Community,and the Pacific Islands Forum. New Zealand has been described as an emerging power;however,such a claim needs to be considered in the context of its medium-sized economy and limited military capability. The country's major political parties have generally agreed on the broad outlines of foreign policy,and the government has been active in promoting free trade,nuclear disarmament,and arms control.
China,officially the People's Republic of China (PRC),has full diplomatic relations with 180 out of the other 192 United Nations member states,Cook Islands,Niue and the State of Palestine. As of 2024,China has had the most diplomatic missions of any state.
Samoa,officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa,is an island country in Polynesia,consisting of two main islands;two smaller,inhabited islands;and several smaller,uninhabited islands,including the Aleipata Islands. Samoa is located 64 km (40 mi) west of American Samoa,889 km (552 mi) northeast of Tonga,1,152 km (716 mi) northeast of Fiji,483 km (300 mi) east of Wallis and Futuna,1,151 km (715 mi) southeast of Tuvalu,519 km (322 mi) south of Tokelau,4,190 km (2,600 mi) southwest of Hawaii,and 610 km (380 mi) northwest of Niue. The capital and largest city is Apia. The Lapita people discovered and settled the Samoan Islands around 3,500 years ago. They developed a Samoan language and Samoan cultural identity.
The Samoan Government is generally conservative and pro-Western,with a strong interest in regional political and economic issues. Samoa participated in a first round of negotiations with its Pacific Island neighbors for a regional trade agreement in August 2000. In January 2009,Samoa opened embassies in the Republic of Korea,China and Japan.
The Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) is the public-service department of New Zealand charged with promoting New Zealand's national security by collecting and analysing information of an intelligence nature. The GCSB is considered to be New Zealand's most powerful intelligence agency,and has been alleged to have conducted more espionage and data collection than the country's primary intelligence agency,the less funded NZSIS. This has at times proven controversial,although the GCSB does not have the baggage of criticism attached to it for a perceived failure to be effective like the NZSIS does. The GCSB is considered an equivalent of GCHQ in the United Kingdom or the NSA in the United States.
Thomas Stewart Udall is an American diplomat,lawyer,and politician serving as the United States Ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa since 2021. A member of the Democratic Party,he served as a United States senator from New Mexico from 2009 to 2021. Udall also served as the U.S. representative for New Mexico's 3rd congressional district from 1999 to 2009 and New Mexico Attorney General from 1991 to 1999. Born in Tucson,Arizona to the Udall family,he is the son of former U.S. Representative and Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall and the nephew of former U.S. Representative Mo Udall. His cousin is Mark Udall,who concurrently served alongside him in the Senate representing the neighboring state of Colorado.
Mark James Gosche is a New Zealand politician. He is a member of the Labour Party. He was born in Auckland to Samoan parents,and has been active in New Zealand's Pasifika community.
GLIFAA is the officially recognized organization representing lesbian,gay,bisexual and transgender etc. (LGBT+) personnel and their families in the United States Department of State,U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID),Foreign Commercial Service,Foreign Agricultural Service,and other agencies and entities working in foreign affairs in the U.S. Government. The acronym comes from its original name,Gays and Lesbians in Foreign Affairs Agencies. As of 2014,the organization goes by GLIFAA and uses the slogan "LGBT+ pride in foreign affairs agencies" to underscore its inclusive composition. GLIFAA was founded in 1992 by fewer than a dozen employees who faced official harassment and potential loss of their jobs because of their sexual orientation. The organization has grown to hundreds of Foreign Service,Civil Service,and contract personnel and their families serving in Washington,throughout the U.S.,and at U.S. embassies and missions around the world. Members also include retirees and straight allies in government agencies,while other supporters are affiliate members.
Oceania is,to the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China,a stage for continuous diplomatic competition. The PRC dictates that no state can have diplomatic relations with both the PRC and the ROC. As of 2024,eleven states in Oceania have diplomatic relations with the PRC,and three have diplomatic relations with the ROC. These numbers fluctuate as Pacific Island nations re-evaluate their foreign policies,and occasionally shift diplomatic recognition between Beijing and Taipei. The issue of which "Chinese" government to recognize has become a central theme in the elections of numerous Pacific island nations,and has led to several votes of no-confidence.
Bilateral relations between Samoa and the United States are considered cordial and warm.
David Andrew Ipp was a South African-born Australian lawyer,judge and Commissioner of the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption between 2009 and 2014.
Cuban-Pacific relations are diplomatic,economic,cultural,and other relations between the Cuba and countries situated in Oceania. In the 2000s,Cuba has been strengthening its relations with Pacific nations,which have,for the most part,responded favorably to Cuban medical aid in particular. The first Cuba-Pacific Islands ministerial meeting was held in September 2008 in Havana,with government members from ten Pacific countries—Kiribati,Tuvalu,Nauru,Solomon Islands,Fiji,Tonga,Vanuatu,Samoa,the Federated States of Micronesia and Papua New Guinea—attending. The meeting was a consolidation rather than a starting point of Cuban-Pacific relations.
American Samoa is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the Polynesia region of the South Pacific Ocean. Centered on 14.3°S 170.7°W,it is 40 miles (64 km) southeast of the island country of Samoa,east of the International Date Line and the Wallis and Futuna Islands,west of the Cook Islands,north of Tonga,and some 310 miles (500 km) south of Tokelau. American Samoa is the southernmost territory of the United States,situated 2,200 miles (3,500 km) southwest of the U.S. state of Hawaii,and one of two U.S. territories south of the Equator,along with the uninhabited Jarvis Island.
Victor John Rodger is a New Zealand journalist,actor and award-winning playwright of Samoan and Pākehāheritage. Rodger's play Sons won acclaim at the Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards (1998) and received the Best New Writer and Most Outstanding New New Zealand Play awards. In 2001,he won the Bruce Mason Playwriting Award. Other plays include Ranterstantrum (2002) and My Name is Gary Cooper (2007),produced and staged by Auckland Theatre Company and starred a Samoan cast including Robbie Magasiva,Anapela Polataivao,Goretti Chadwick and Kiwi actress Jennifer Ward-Lealand.
Douglas Samuel Jones,is an independent international arbitrator based in London,Sydney and Toronto. He is a door tenant at Atkin Chambers,London,a member of Sydney Arbitration Chambers,and a member of Toronto Arbitration Chambers in Toronto,Canada. He serves as an International Judge of the Singapore International Commercial Court.
New Zealand–Vietnam relations refers to the relations between New Zealand and Vietnam. New Zealand has an embassy in Hanoi and a consulate-general in Ho Chi Minh City. Vietnam has an embassy in Wellington.
Grzegorz Kowal is a Polish diplomat,Poland ambassador to New Zealand (2020–2024).
