The United Nations Security Council meets to discuss North Korea. The rules-based international order has served the world well since the end of the Second World War, but is now under strain. There are also uncertainties about the global economy, fuelled by major trade tensions. While countries like Vanuatu have little direct influence on these developments, they do underline the importance of maintaining a strong and resilient economy, to guard against external shocks. The Global Financial Crisis had ripple effects for years. Vanuatu, as with all countries, needs to be flexible, and to assess and respond to this fluid environment as best it can. It is also important, as competition for influence grows, to guard against those who seek to exert inappropriate influence and potentially undermine sovereign institutions. The Asia Pacific region has been undergoing profound economic transition. Strategic rivalry has also increased. China has emerged as a global power, and the United States, while still the largest power globally, is seeing a shift in its long-held strategic dominance in East Asia. Meanwhile tensions around the Pacific Rim, such those centred on the South China Sea, and North Korea, have highlighted the potential for instability in the region, should they escalate. At the same time, other trends are changing our world. Globalisation and technology are changing the way we communicate and do business, although with an ever-growing threat of malicious cyber activity. Transnational and organised crime is becoming more sophisticated, while profit shifting and other forms of tax evasion across borders pose increasing challenges for national governments. Terrorism is a constant reality in some parts of the world, and as the brutal attack in Christchurch in 2019 demonstrated, no country is immune, no matter how safe it normally is. Climate change and environmental degradation and the increased demand for food, water and energy carry with them the risk of political, economic and social disruption. Vanuatu will have to navigate more turbulent times. 17