Pacific Islands Forum Demands Missile-Test Notice, With Nauru Dissenting

• Forum leaders closed their 55th meeting in Koror on September 4 by demanding at least 24 hours’ advance notice of intercontinental ballistic missile tests, a call that followed concerns over China’s July test but did not name China in the communiqué. 
• Leaders from five of 18 member states sent deputies instead, and Beijing’s Pacific envoy Qian Bo attended as Taiwan participated in its own right as a development partner.

Solomon Islands Government Wobbles Weeks After the Bina Harbour Pledge

• Home Affairs Minister Manasseh Maelanga filed a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Matthew Wale and resigned alongside Justice Minister Clezy Rore and Commerce Minister Harry Kuma, accusing Wale of deciding matters of national importance without cabinet consultation. Wale left Palau within hours of arriving for the Forum to return to Honiara.

Beijing Broadens Its Legal Claim on Civilian Assets

• The National People’s Congress passed a revised National Defense Mobilization Law on August 28, effective October 1, that permits the state to expropriate rather than requisition private property and specifies invocation when sovereignty, territorial integrity, or development interests face a direct threat, language that likely extends the law below the threshold of war.

US Officials Accuse COSCO Ships of Signals Intelligence Collection

• Two senior administration officials told Reuters on September 1 that the state-owned shipping giant COSCO carries concealed signals intelligence platforms that collect communications from vessels and aircraft along coastlines in North America, Europe, and Asia, under an arrangement they described as decades old. 

China Invokes the UN “Enemy State” Clause Against Japan

• A PRC Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on September 2 that the UN Charter’s enemy state clause, which permits military action against former Axis powers without Security Council approval, remains in force against Japan and carries particular significance given Japanese remilitarization.

China’s Factory Slump Eases but Stays Below the Line

• The official manufacturing PMI rose to 49.8 in August from 49.2 in July, beating the 49.6 median forecast in a Reuters poll but marking a second straight month of contraction. Production climbed to 50.4 and new orders to 50.6, while small firms remained weak at 47.9 and medium-sized firms slipped to 49.4.