Pope calls for peace in Asia-Pacific region as he warns of new arms race

The 87-year-old is in the middle of a 12-day trip to Southeast Asia, which includes seven flights covering more than 20,000 miles

The Pope has warned against a new arms race as he called for peace in the Asia-Pacific region.
After a mass attended by tens of thousands in the Pacific island nation of Papua New Guinea, Pope Francis asked for peace, “in particular for this great region of the world, Asia, Oceania and the Pacific Ocean”.
“No to rearmament and exploitation of our common home”, the pope added, according to the Vatican News, the news portal of the Holy See.
His 12-day trip, which will also include a stop in Singapore, is testing the 87-year-old pope’s stamina and health. He uses a wheelchair because of knee and back pain, and is prone to suffer breathing problems because he only has one lung. Spanning seven flights and more than 20,000 miles, his trip is one of the longest and farthest any pope has undertaken.
His calls about peace comes amid rising geopolitical tensions in the region, with at-times violent standoffs in disputed South China Sea waters between China and the Philippines, growing fears that a conflict could break out in the Taiwan Strait, and a larger competition between Beijing and Washington for influence in the Pacific.
The Vatican does not have official relations with Beijing, but it does with Taipei, and it is Taiwan’s only official diplomatic ally in Europe. While Pope Francis has been trying to improve relations with China, efforts have been strained by cases of Beijing appointing bishops without papal consent.
Spending on defence has been on the rise in Asia, led by China. It spent an estimated US$296 billion in 2023, a rise of 6 percent from the previous year – making up half of all military spending across Asia and Oceania – according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. That increase has driven China’s neighbours, Japan and Taiwan, to significantly build up their own defence capabilities.
The U.S. and its allies in Asia, including Japan and South Korea, have warned that North Korea poses a mounting regional threat.
North Korea is estimated to have a stockpile of 50 nuclear warheads and in recent years has accelerated its testing of ballistic missiles.
On Saturday, the heads of MI6 and the CIA said they see China as “the principal intelligence and geopolitical challenge of the 21st century”.
“We have reorganised our services to reflect that priority”, Richard Moore and Bill Burns wrote in the Financial Times.
Thomas Ching-wei Tu, a researcher on the Vatican based in Taipei, said the Pope’s message on peace was aimed at Indonesia and East Timor – two other countries on his trip that have a history of conflict – and the region more broadly.
“We can see that he also knows [about tensions in] the South China Sea, in cross-strait relations and also between North and South Korea. We have some potential possible conflict there. And he is trying to be a bridge.
“He doesn’t want to see any conflict here. I think verbal conflict is possible, as we have to define and defend our position. But we don’t want to see physical battle conflict here, weaponised conflict.”
During his trip to Southeast Asia, the Pope has also called for an end to tribal violence that has troubled Papua New Guinea for decades, and which has killed dozens in recent months. In Indonesia, he called on its leaders to guard against religious extremism, which he said uses “deception and violence” to distort people’s beliefs.
Following mass on Sunday in Papua New Guinea’s capital, Port Moresby, the Pope flew deep into the country’s jungle to the remote town of Vanimo. There he and his entourage brought a tonne of supplies for the population, including clothing, medical items and toys.