The Australian Prime Minister says his country needs to step up as Beijing displays its growing military and diplomatic presence in the region.
China’s Foreign Minister is due to stop in eight Pacific nations on the 10-day trip.
It comes after tens of thousands of Communist Party images and documents were leaked online.
Seoul officials say they were fired toward waters off North Korea’s eastern coast one after another between 6am and 7am on Wednesday.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is leading a tour through the region from Thursday, beginning with the hotspot Solomon Islands.
The diagnosis marks the first reported case on the Arabian Peninsula.
The US has invited a group of a dozen friends and neighbours to join a new regional alliance. But there's one country not invited - China.
The US President says the burden to protect Taiwan is stronger after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Officials say the fire apparently started in the boat's engine room.
North Korea remains under a nationwide lockdown to curb its Covid-19 outbreak.
On Sunday, most female anchors were seen with their faces covered after the Taliban’s Vice and Virtue Ministry began enforcing the decree.
Trade Minister Damien O’Connor said he walked out over Russia's Ukraine invasion, which had slowed the economic recovery from Covid and made it harder for people to get food.
The attack began when three ships carrying militants in civilian clothes chased the vessel.
Despite what the North's propaganda is describing as an all-out effort, the fear is palpable among citizens, according to defectors.
It comes a week after the country acknowledged the outbreak and scrambled to slow infections in its unvaccinated population.
He accused them of "immaturity" and "slackness" in their early handling of the Covid-19 outbreak.
A source told The Wall Street Journal that, "the plane did what it was told to do by someone in the cockpit".
Before acknowledging domestic cases, North Korea spent two years rejecting outside offers of vaccines.
The fire erupted Friday evening in a four-storey commercial building in New Delhi.
A further 350,000 have been treated for a fever that has spread “explosively” across North Korea, state media said on Friday.