More than a third of this country's population has applied to relocate
The island nation – roughly halfway between Hawaii and Australia – is home to about 10,000 people, according to the latest government statistics, living across a clutch of tiny islets and atolls in the South Pacific.
With no part of its territory above six meters, it is one of the most at-risk places in the world to rising seas caused by climate change.
On June 16, Australia opened a roughly one-month application window for what it says is a one-of-a-kind visa offering necessitated by climate change. Under the new scheme, Australia will accept 280 visa winners from a random ballot between July and January 2026. The Tuvaluans will get permanent residency on arrival in Australia, with the right to work and access public healthcare and education.
More than 4,000 people have applied under the scheme, according to official figures seen by CNN.
'The opening of the Falepili Mobility Pathway delivers on our shared vision for mobility with dignity, by providing Tuvaluans the opportunity to live, study and work in Australia as climate impacts worsen,' Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said in a statement.
CNN has reached out to the Tuvalu government.
According to Tuvalu's Prime Minister Feleti Teo, more than half of Tuvalu will be regularly inundated by tidal surges by 2050. By 2100, 90% of his nation will be regularly under water, he says.
Fongafale, the nation's capital, is the largest and most populated islet in Tuvalu's main atoll, Funafuti. It has a runway-like strip of land just 65 feet (20 meters) wide in some places.
'You can put yourself in my situation, as the prime minister of Tuvalu, contemplating development, contemplating services for the basic needs of our people, and at the same time being presented with a very confronting and disturbing forecast,' Teo told the United Nations Oceans Conference this month in Nice, France.
'Internal relocation in Tuvalu is not an option, we are totally flat,' the prime minister said on June 12. 'There is no option to move inland or move to higher ground, because there is no higher ground.'
The visa scheme is part of a broader pact signed between Australia and Tuvalu in 2023, which binds Australia to defending Tuvalu both militarily and against rising seas.
Tuvalu, which claims 900,000 square kilometers of the South Pacific, is considered by Canberra as a crucial player in its ongoing struggle with China for regional influence.
Recognition is something Australia has said it will guarantee for Tuvalu, even if nobody can live there in the future. 'The statehood and sovereignty of Tuvalu will continue, and the rights and duties inherent thereto will be maintained, notwithstanding the impact of climate change-related sea-level rise,' their treaty reads.
In 2022, at COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, Tuvalu announced that it sought to become the first nation in the world to move entirely online. The government has since developed a plan to 'digitally recreate its land, archive its rich history and culture and move all government functions into a digital space.' Australia now recognizes Tuvalu's 'digital sovereignty,' which the country hopes will allow it to 'retain its identity and continue to function as a state, even after its physical land is gone.'
Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said last year his country shared a vision for a 'peaceful, stable, prosperous and unified region.'
'It shows our Pacific partners that they can rely on Australia as a trusted and genuine partner.'
Australia's support for the Pacific island nation has stood in stark contrast in recent months to US President Donald Trump's administration, which has imposed sweeping crackdowns on climate policies and immigration.
Tuvalu is among a group of 36 countries that the Trump administration is looking to add to the current travel ban list, according to the Associated Press.
The ban fully restricts entry of nationals from 12 countries: Afghanistan; Myanmar, also known as Burma; Chad; Republic of the Congo; Equatorial Guinea; Eritrea; Haiti; Iran; Libya; Somalia; Sudan; and Yemen. People from seven countries also face partial restrictions: Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
The 36 countries, including Tuvalu's Pacific neighbors Tonga and Vanuatu, had been told to commit to improving vetting of travelers and take steps to address the status of their nationals who are in the United States illegally or face similar restrictions, the AP reported, citing a diplomatic cable sent by the State Department.
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CNN
31 minutes ago
- CNN
Japan is selling top-of-the-line warships to another key US ally. What that means in the highly contested Pacific
Australia last week announced a $6.5 billion deal to buy advanced warships from Japan, a move that can go a long way to making Canberra a Pacific maritime power and Tokyo a major weapons exporter, analysts say. The Australian Defense Ministry said it will buy 11 of Japan's Mogami-class frigates, stealthy, state-of-the-art surface combatants that analysts say are equal to – or in some repects better than – anything China or even the United States is putting in the water. Announcing the deal with its fellow member of the the US-led Quad defense group, Australia's Minister for Defense Industry Pat Conroy called it 'another step towards delivering a much larger and more lethal navy, with stealth frigates that will reassure our allies and deter our adversaries.' Australia's main security concern is its growing neighborhood rivalry with China, which was stoked earlier this year when a Chinese naval task force circumnavigated the continent and held live-fire exercises off Australian shores, forcing dozens of passenger planes to divert from their usual flight paths. Canberra says the vessels will be 'upgraded' Mogami-class ships – bigger than a version already in service with Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force – giving them more firepower and a longer unrefueled range of approximately 11,500 miles (about half the length of the equator). Japan's Defense Minister Gen Nakatani echoed Conroy's sentiment, calling the deal a 'big step' that will boost Tokyo's security cooperation with a special strategic partner, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported. The new warships, built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, will have 32 Mk 41 vertical launch cells, capable of firing surface-to-air missiles and anti-ship missiles, the Defense Ministry said. These will enable the Mogamis to fire 128 air defense missiles, four times the number current Australian surface vessels can fire, Conroy said. Analysts noted the Lockheed Martin-made Mk 41 launch cells are big enough to carry Tomahawk cruise missiles – which, with a range of 1,000 miles, could greatly extend the warships' target area. The Mk 41 cells could also be used for long-range anti-submarine rockets, enabling them to better hunt down fleeing nuclear-powered submarines, said Sidharth Kaushal, a research fellow in sea power at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in London. The Japanese-made frigates are also lauded for their lean manning, needing only a crew of 90, compared with 170 on Australia's current ANZAC-class frigates the Mogamis will replace. The smaller crew is important for countries like Japan and Australia that face military recruiting challenges. 'It's a much bigger ship, which is able to operate with a much smaller crew, and that's a reflection of how modern this ship is,' Australian Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said at a press conference on Tuesday. The Mogami class compares favorably with other frigates in the region, analysts said, and they praised Australia's decision to go with the Japanese design, which was in competition with a German frigate. 'Its stealth, its reduced manning, its modularity – all at a relatively affordable price – make it an incredibly competitive product,' said Alessio Patalano, professor of war and strategy in East Asia at King's College, London. Carl Schuster, a former US Navy captain and former head of the US Pacific Command's Joint Intelligence Center, called it 'slightly superior' to China's Type 054B frigate, giving it especially high marks for its mid- to long-range air defense systems. 'Compared to a Chinese frigate this is an agile, more technologically advanced solution,' Patalano said. Kaushal, the RUSI analyst, said the unseen technology on the Japanese-made warship – its software – could make more of a difference than firepower when it comes to combat. For instance, it's possible that the sonar software on the Mogami could be superior to an adversary's in separating ocean noise from an actual hostile contact, he said. And the analysts noted Japanese industrial reliability. 'Japanese shipyards do outstanding work and deliver their products on time and within the assigned budget,' said Schuster. 'Mogami is state of the art. It builds on Japan's longstanding high-quality pipeline approach to shipbuilding, and clear access to advanced tech both domestic and from the US,' Patalano said, adding that current Mogami-class ships are powered by British engines. The Australian deal bodes well for what could be a nascent Japanese defense export industry, the analysts said. For most of the post-World War II era, Japan banned any export of weaponry. But in recent years that policy has been relaxed to allow items related to surveillance, reconnaissance and rescue to be sold abroad. The Philippines has been the early beneficiary of this change, getting air surveillance radars from Japan over the past two years, according to Tomohisa Takei, a senior fellow at the Sasakawa Peace Foundation. Last year, Japan sold its first lethal weaponry, Patriot missile interceptors to the US, built under license from Washington to replace Patriots it had sent to Ukraine. The frigate sale to Australia dwarfs that missile deal. The Australian Defense Ministry announcement said the first three warships will be built in Japan and the remaining eight in Australia. Patalano said exporting the warships, but also exporting the technology to build them, represents a challenge for the country's arms industry. Pulling it off 'would catapult Japan in the space of major defense industry exporters,' he said. When looking at the Japan-Australia deal, analysts noted that the two US allies may be more advanced and efficient in military shipbuilding than their American partner. The US Navy has no frigates in its fleet and hasn't had them since 2015 when the last of the Oliver Hazard Perry class, the USS Simpson, was decommissioned. Washington's effort to build new frigates, the Constellation class, which was authorized in 2020, is at least three years behind schedule as it undergoes design changes despite construction having already begun, according to the Government Accountability Office. And even then, it may not be able to deliver what the Mogami does, said Schuster, the former Navy captain. 'In my opinion, it is superior to the Constellation class,' he said. Patalano, too, noted the US naval shipbuilding woes. 'When it comes to shipbuilding the US is not in the innovation space of some of its closest allies, and compared to Italy, France, the UK, the ROK (South Korea), and now Japan, the US has a lot to learn,' said Patalano, from King's College. The government of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the frigate deal is part of a greater investment in defense that will create 10,000 jobs at home. Another leg of that is the AUKUS agreement between Australia, the US and the United Kingdom, which will see Canberra acquire and later build its own nuclear-powered submarines. Australia said the agreement announced this week is non-binding, but the Albanese government expected to have contracts signed by next year. Canberra expects the first of the new warships to be operational by 2029, a Defense Ministry statement said. The deal marks a return to the global military market for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, a company with a rich naval history. It was a key force behind the buildup of the Imperial Japanese Navy leading up to World War II and is responsible for making the largest battleships in history, the Yamato and the Musashi, 69,000-ton behemoths with 18-inch main guns. They were state-of-the-art for battleships and entered the war only after Japan's December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor, but the advent of aircraft carriers conveying torpedo bombers made them essentially obsolete before they could ever show their true power. The Musashi sank during the Battle of Leyte Gulf in October 1944 after being hit by dozens of torpedoes and bombs dropped by US planes. Yamato was sunk by US carrier-based planes in April 1945 while making a planned suicide run to the Battle of Okinawa. The plan was for the ship to be beached and become a Japanese fort against the US invasion.
CNN
an hour ago
- CNN
Japan is selling top-of-the-line warships to another key US ally. What that means in the highly contested Pacific
Australia last week announced a $6.5 billion deal to buy advanced warships from Japan, a move that can go a long way to making Canberra a Pacific maritime power and Tokyo a major weapons exporter, analysts say. The Australian Defense Ministry said it will buy 11 of Japan's Mogami-class frigates, stealthy, state-of-the-art surface combatants that analysts say are equal to – or in some repects better than – anything China or even the United States is putting in the water. Announcing the deal with its fellow member of the the US-led Quad defense group, Australia's Minister for Defense Industry Pat Conroy called it 'another step towards delivering a much larger and more lethal navy, with stealth frigates that will reassure our allies and deter our adversaries.' Australia's main security concern is its growing neighborhood rivalry with China, which was stoked earlier this year when a Chinese naval task force circumnavigated the continent and held live-fire exercises off Australian shores, forcing dozens of passenger planes to divert from their usual flight paths. Canberra says the vessels will be 'upgraded' Mogami-class ships – bigger than a version already in service with Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force – giving them more firepower and a longer unrefueled range of approximately 11,500 miles (about half the length of the equator). Japan's Defense Minister Gen Nakatani echoed Conroy's sentiment, calling the deal a 'big step' that will boost Tokyo's security cooperation with a special strategic partner, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported. The new warships, built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, will have 32 Mk 41 vertical launch cells, capable of firing surface-to-air missiles and anti-ship missiles, the Defense Ministry said. These will enable the Mogamis to fire 128 air defense missiles, four times the number current Australian surface vessels can fire, Conroy said. Analysts noted the Lockheed Martin-made Mk 41 launch cells are big enough to carry Tomahawk cruise missiles – which, with a range of 1,000 miles, could greatly extend the warships' target area. The Mk 41 cells could also be used for long-range anti-submarine rockets, enabling them to better hunt down fleeing nuclear-powered submarines, said Sidharth Kaushal, a research fellow in sea power at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in London. The Japanese-made frigates are also lauded for their lean manning, needing only a crew of 90, compared with 170 on Australia's current ANZAC-class frigates the Mogamis will replace. The smaller crew is important for countries like Japan and Australia that face military recruiting challenges. 'It's a much bigger ship, which is able to operate with a much smaller crew, and that's a reflection of how modern this ship is,' Australian Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said at a press conference on Tuesday. The Mogami class compares favorably with other frigates in the region, analysts said, and they praised Australia's decision to go with the Japanese design, which was in competition with a German frigate. 'Its stealth, its reduced manning, its modularity – all at a relatively affordable price – make it an incredibly competitive product,' said Alessio Patalano, professor of war and strategy in East Asia at King's College, London. Carl Schuster, a former US Navy captain and former head of the US Pacific Command's Joint Intelligence Center, called it 'slightly superior' to China's Type 054B frigate, giving it especially high marks for its mid- to long-range air defense systems. 'Compared to a Chinese frigate this is an agile, more technologically advanced solution,' Patalano said. Kaushal, the RUSI analyst, said the unseen technology on the Japanese-made warship – its software – could make more of a difference than firepower when it comes to combat. For instance, it's possible that the sonar software on the Mogami could be superior to an adversary's in separating ocean noise from an actual hostile contact, he said. And the analysts noted Japanese industrial reliability. 'Japanese shipyards do outstanding work and deliver their products on time and within the assigned budget,' said Schuster. 'Mogami is state of the art. It builds on Japan's longstanding high-quality pipeline approach to shipbuilding, and clear access to advanced tech both domestic and from the US,' Patalano said, adding that current Mogami-class ships are powered by British engines. The Australian deal bodes well for what could be a nascent Japanese defense export industry, the analysts said. For most of the post-World War II era, Japan banned any export of weaponry. But in recent years that policy has been relaxed to allow items related to surveillance, reconnaissance and rescue to be sold abroad. The Philippines has been the early beneficiary of this change, getting air surveillance radars from Japan over the past two years, according to Tomohisa Takei, a senior fellow at the Sasakawa Peace Foundation. Last year, Japan sold its first lethal weaponry, Patriot missile interceptors to the US, built under license from Washington to replace Patriots it had sent to Ukraine. The frigate sale to Australia dwarfs that missile deal. The Australian Defense Ministry announcement said the first three warships will be built in Japan and the remaining eight in Australia. Patalano said exporting the warships, but also exporting the technology to build them, represents a challenge for the country's arms industry. Pulling it off 'would catapult Japan in the space of major defense industry exporters,' he said. When looking at the Japan-Australia deal, analysts noted that the two US allies may be more advanced and efficient in military shipbuilding than their American partner. The US Navy has no frigates in its fleet and hasn't had them since 2015 when the last of the Oliver Hazard Perry class, the USS Simpson, was decommissioned. Washington's effort to build new frigates, the Constellation class, which was authorized in 2020, is at least three years behind schedule as it undergoes design changes despite construction having already begun, according to the Government Accountability Office. And even then, it may not be able to deliver what the Mogami does, said Schuster, the former Navy captain. 'In my opinion, it is superior to the Constellation class,' he said. Patalano, too, noted the US naval shipbuilding woes. 'When it comes to shipbuilding the US is not in the innovation space of some of its closest allies, and compared to Italy, France, the UK, the ROK (South Korea), and now Japan, the US has a lot to learn,' said Patalano, from King's College. The government of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the frigate deal is part of a greater investment in defense that will create 10,000 jobs at home. Another leg of that is the AUKUS agreement between Australia, the US and the United Kingdom, which will see Canberra acquire and later build its own nuclear-powered submarines. Australia said the agreement announced this week is non-binding, but the Albanese government expected to have contracts signed by next year. Canberra expects the first of the new warships to be operational by 2029, a Defense Ministry statement said. The deal marks a return to the global military market for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, a company with a rich naval history. It was a key force behind the buildup of the Imperial Japanese Navy leading up to World War II and is responsible for making the largest battleships in history, the Yamato and the Musashi, 69,000-ton behemoths with 18-inch main guns. They were state-of-the-art for battleships and entered the war only after Japan's December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor, but the advent of aircraft carriers conveying torpedo bombers made them essentially obsolete before they could ever show their true power. The Musashi sank during the Battle of Leyte Gulf in October 1944 after being hit by dozens of torpedoes and bombs dropped by US planes. Yamato was sunk by US carrier-based planes in April 1945 while making a planned suicide run to the Battle of Okinawa. The plan was for the ship to be beached and become a Japanese fort against the US invasion.
CBS News
an hour ago
- CBS News
Australia latest to say it will recognize a Palestinian state
Australia will recognize a Palestinian state, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Monday, joining the leaders of France, Britain and Canada in signaling they would do so. His remarks followed weeks of urging from within his Cabinet and from many in Australia to recognize a Palestinian state and amid growing criticism from officials in his government over suffering in Gaza, which Albanese on Monday referred to as a "humanitarian catastrophe." Australia's government has also criticized plans announced in recent days by Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu for a sweeping new military offensive in Gaza. Albanese told reporters after a Cabinet meeting Monday that Australia's decision to recognize a Palestinian state will be formalized at the United Nations General Assembly in September. The acknowledgement was "predicated on commitments Australia has received from the Palestinian Authority," Albanese said. Those commitments included no role for Hamas in a Palestinian government, demilitarization of Gaza and the holding of elections, he said. "A two-state solution is humanity's best hope to break the cycle of violence in the Middle East and to bring an end to the conflict, suffering and starvation in Gaza," Albanese said. "The situation in Gaza has gone beyond the world's worst fears," he said. "The Israeli government continues to defy international law and deny sufficient aid, food and water to desperate people, including children." "Until Israeli and Palestinian statehood is permanent, peace can only be temporary," he said. "Australia will recognize the right of the Palestinian people to a state of their own. We will work with the international community to make this right a reality." The Israel-Hamas war, raging in Gaza since the Palestinian militant group's attack on Israel October 7, 2023, has revived global momentum toward a Palestinian state. Ahead of Albanese's announcement, Netanyahu on Sunday criticized Australia and other European countries that have moved in that direction. "To have European countries and Australia march into that rabbit hole ... this canard, is disappointing and I think it's actually shameful," the Israeli leader said. Australia has designated Hamas a terrorist entity and Albanese repeated Monday his government's calls for the group to return Israeli hostages held since Oct. 7, 2023. The Australian leader last week spoke to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose authority administers parts of the occupied West Bank, supports a two-state solution and cooperates with Israel on security matters. Abbas has agreed to conditions with Western leaders, including Albanese, as they prepared to recognize a Palestinian state. "This is an opportunity to deliver self-determination for the people of Palestine in a way isolates Hamas, disarms it and drives it out of the region once and for all," Albanese said. He added that Hamas did not support a two-state solution. Nearly 150 of the 193 members of the United Nations have already recognized Palestinian statehood, most of them decades ago. The United States and other Western powers have held off, saying Palestinian statehood should be part of a final agreement resolving the decades-old Middle East conflict. Recognition announcements are largely symbolic and are rejected by Israel. A two-state solution would see a state of Palestine created alongside Israel in most or all of the occupied West Bank, the war-ravaged Gaza Strip and annexed east Jerusalem, territories Israel seized in the 1967 Mideast war that the Palestinians want for their state. Albanese dismissed suggestions Monday that the move was solely symbolic. "This is a practical contribution towards building momentum," he said. "This is not Australia acting alone." Albanese had discussed Australia's decision with the leaders of Britain, France, New Zealand and Japan, he said. He also had a "long discussion" with Netanyahu this month, he added. In neighboring New Zealand, Foreign Minister Winston Peters said Monday his government "will carefully weigh up its position" on recognizing a Palestinian state before making a formal decision in September. "New Zealand has been clear for some time that our recognition of a Palestinian state is a matter of when, not if," Peters said in a statement.
