HONIARA, Solomon Islands: A top US diplomat warned Pacific Islands of a new struggle against violent power-hungry regimes Sunday, as she visited the Solomon Islands to mark the 80th anniversary of World War II’s Battle of Guadalcanal.
With China’s military carrying out war drills around Taiwan and Russia bombarding Ukraine, Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman hit out at a new crop of world leaders reviving “bankrupt” ideas about the use of force.
Visiting a battlefield memorial in the Solomon Islands, Sherman said “some around the world” had forgotten the cost of war, or were ignoring the lessons of the past.
She hit out at “leaders who believe that coercion, pressure, and violence are tools to be used with impunity,” without citing any leader by name.
Sherman is leading a US delegation to the Solomon Islands to mark the anniversary of the Battle of Guadalcanal.
The brutal seven-month land, sea and air fight between Allied and Japanese forces killed tens of thousands of troops — most Japanese — and was a turning point in the war.
Painting the situation today as carrying faint echoes of the fight against Nazism and Imperial Japan in the 1930-40s, the State Department number two urged the region to push back.
“We remember how bankrupt, how empty, such views were then, and remain today,” she said.
“Today we are once again engaged in a different kind of struggle — a struggle that will go on for some time to come.”
Sherman’s trip comes as the United States scrambles to rebuild diplomatic relations in a region where China is growing stronger and democratic alliances have faltered.
Nowhere is America’s waning regional influence more evident than in the Solomon Islands itself.
The government of Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare recently signed a secretive security pact with Beijing, has moved to curb press freedoms, and suggested delaying elections.
Sherman, again without naming names, told her hosts “it is up to us to decide if we want to continue having societies where people are free to speak their minds.”
It is time, she said, to decide “if we want to have governments that are transparent and accountable to their people.”
As well as warnings, Sherman said Washington wants to increase cooperation with the “absolutely critical” Pacific islands, including by opening embassies in Tonga, Kiribati, and the Solomon Islands.
As part of the charm offensive, US President Joe Biden is also expected to invite Pacific Island leaders to the White House for a September summit.
US warns Pacific isles of ‘struggle’ against coercive regimes
https://arab.news/rdtay
US warns Pacific isles of ‘struggle’ against coercive regimes
- Wendy Sherman hit out at a new crop of world leaders reviving “bankrupt” ideas about the use of force
- Warning comes amid China’s provocative war drills around Taiwan and Russia bombarding Ukraine
Fourth pair of Filipino conjoined twins to undergo separation surgery in Riyadh
- The Manuel twins and their parents met with the Saudi ambassador to Manila
- Kingdom’s flagship program for conjoined twins has separated over 140 children
MANILA: Conjoined twins Olivia and Gianna Manuel will travel to Riyadh for separation surgery, becoming the fourth pair of Filipino twins to be treated under the Saudi Conjoined Twins Program, the Kingdom’s Embassy in Manila said on Tuesday.
The 20-month-old girls from the town of Talavera in the central Philippine province of Nueva Ecija were born in April 2024. They are joined from the chest to the abdomen, a condition known as omphalopagus.
Saudi Ambassador Faisal Ibrahim Al-Ghamdi received them on Monday, “ahead of their departure to the Kingdom,” the embassy said in a statement.
“The family of the twins conveyed their profound gratitude and appreciation to the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for this generous gesture and the medical and humanitarian care extended to their daughters.”
Olivia and Gianna’s mother first learned about the Saudi Conjoined Twins Program last year when she was still in the hospital with the girls, closely monitored by doctors for three months after they were born.
“From the time I gave birth to the twins, I already started searching about conjoined twins,” Ginalyn Manuel told Arab News.
In the beginning, she followed updates on Akhizah and Ayeesha Yusoph, the second pair of Filipino twins to be selected for separation surgery under the program.
But at the time, she could not find anyone who was able to help connect her to the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center, which runs the conjoined twins initiative.
“Then in May, I saw the Misa twins. The mother posted that they were about to fly and she was thanking Saudi Arabia and the embassy,” Manuel said.
Maurice Ann and Klea Misa are the third pair of conjoined twins from Lubang, a municipality on the Philippine island of Mindoro, who flew to Riyadh earlier this year in May for a separation surgery.
Through their social media posts, Manuel tried again to make online connections, eventually finding the right people to link her up with KSrelief.
“Then in July, (KSrelief) sent us an email asking for the medical records of my twins, and that started the whole process,” she said.
Conjoined twins are a rare phenomenon, estimated to occur once in every 50,000 to 60,000 births.
Saudi Arabia is known as a pioneer in the field of separation surgery. KSrelief was established by King Salman in 2015 and is headed by Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah, one of the world’s most renowned pediatric surgeons.
Since 1990, he and his team have separated more than 140 children from 27 countries who were born sharing internal organs with their twins.
The Misa twins, who are joined at the head, are currently being prepared for their surgery in Riyadh.
The first pair of Filipino conjoined twins, Ann and Mae Manzo, were separated under the program in March 2004. They were joined at the abdomen, pelvis and perineum.
They were followed by the Yusoph twins, who were joined at the lower chest and abdomen and shared one liver. Their successful separation surgery was conducted in September 2024.
