China fired a nuclear-capable missile into the South Pacific. Then its neighbours couldn't agree to condemn it. The missile came down in waters close to Tuvalu's exclusive economic zone a month before foreign ministers met at the Pacific Islands Forum in Suva, Fiji. 

Australia's Penny Wong and New Zealand's Winston Peters pushed for a joint statement. Nauru and Kiribati refused to sign even the weakest version. 

Both have taken Chinese money and built closer ties with Beijing, and it showed. China is pressing south in other ways too: a security deal with the Cook Islands, coast guard vessels probing deeper into the region, and a clear interest in the minerals under the seabed.

Journalist Anna Fifield, who reported across Asia and the Middle East for the Washington Post and the Financial Times, asks whether Australia's much-praised Pacific reset is as solid as Canberra claims. 

She also takes on New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon surviving a second leadership challenge before the 7 November election, Vietnamese President To Lam's charm offensive in Australia and New Zealand, and Kim Jongn's apparent grooming of his teenage daughter to inherit North Korea. 

Hosts Geraldine Doogue and Hamish McDonald steer a tour of a neighbourhood that suddenly matters far more.

Guest: Anna Fifield, Independent journalist and foreign affairs commentator. Author of the Between Giants Substack.

Recommendations: 

Anna – All Her Lives by Ingrid Horrocks

Geraldine – World War II With Tom Hanks

Hamish - Unsettled by Kate Grenville

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