MODI IN FIJI: AN AGENDA BEYOND THE DIASPORA – ANALYSIS NOVEMBER 20, By Monish Gulati On Nov 19, on the last leg of his three-nation trip, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be in the the Fijian capital of Suva for a day-long bilateral visit, where he is expected to address a joint session of the Fijian parliament. He will be the first Indian prime minister after Indira Gandhi in 1981 to visit the country. While in Fiji, Modi would address a mini-summit with 13 other countries of the region also known as the Pacific Island Countries (PICs), viz Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Republic of Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. Arriving in Fiji in the wake of Modi’s visit will be the Chinese President Xi Jinping making his second state visit to Fiji. Early this year, the military regime in Fiji had promulgated a new constitution and made preparations for elections by September 2014. Following that Rear Admiral (Retd) Josaia Voreqe (Frank) Bainimarama stepped down as military chief, formed a new political party called FijiFirst Party with the intent to contest the scheduled elections. After a watershed election on Sep 17 this year, conducted under the new constitution and a new electoral system, Fiji emerged from eight years of military rule. Election results saw a new government headed by Prime Minister Bainimarama. This article looks at the significance of Modi’s visit to Fiji. Oceania and PICs While trade, commerce, tourism, natural resources, including fisheries and minerals, expansive economic zones, foreign aid and the presence of island territories of Western powers have punctuated the strategic environment of the Oceania and PICs, one dominant fact that altered the political economy of the region was the post WW II drive by the island nations to seek independence from their former colonial dependencies in the Pacific. This led to their emergence as full voting members of the United Nations (UN) which gave them political leverage on the international stage and in the process created a “market” for their sovereignty rights. According to Bernard Poirine, professor at University of French Polynesia, economic aid to PICs has been a type of trade for “geostrategic services” including use as military bases or missile launching/testing sites, for denying air and sea access to donors’ rivals or for voting in favour of donor interests at multilateral forum. Fiji Fiji is the most developed of the PICs, and is home to the largest defence force (3,200 in the active forces) and the second-largest police force of the island states of the Pacific. Significant troop contributions to UN peacekeeping efforts have enabled Fiji to project itself internationally and build its profile at the UN. Fiji military and police officers have been integral to peacekeeping operations in Bougainville, the Solomon Islands, and Timor-Leste. The country is also home to the Pacific Islands Forum (a political grouping of 16 independent, self-governing states in the Pacific Ocean) secretariat, where for years before its suspension in 2009, Fiji government officials played a constructive role in establishing the Forum Regional Security Committee and in negotiating Forum declarations on security. Fiji has a history of armed coups followed by periods of elected governments. The armed overthrow of governments in 1987, 2000 and 2006 saw Australian and New Zealand criticism of the coups; targeted sanctions by Canberra and Wellington and pressure applied by the US and the European Union. The Fiji government as a reaction sought relationships with other international partners. It has pursued an enhanced relationship with China, expanded relations with Russia and opened new diplomatic missions in Indonesia, South Africa, and established diplomatic relations with approximately 70 countries. Australia and New Zealand normalized relations with Fiji in July 2012 by agreeing to exchange high commissioners after a virtual admission that their hard-line policies had proved ineffective in securing Fiji’s military regime to reinstate democracy, and a softer approach to Fiji has become the best route available to influence change. China Factor Some of the earlier developments in the Pacific, where as a result of the rivalry between China and Taiwan, which has been intense and according to Graeme Dobell of the Lowy Institute for International Policy – “goes far beyond normal standards of diplomacy or international aid”. To secure the allegiance of the PICs, China had launched several public infrastructure projects. These include conference centres and justice ministries in Tonga and Samoa, a parliamentary complex and courthouse in Vanuatu; sports stadia in Fiji, Micronesia, and Samoa; and a courthouse and police station in the Cook Islands. Taiwan, on the other hand provided agricultural aid as well as technical assistance in marine ecology and aquaculture. It has also offered generous scholarships as well as computer hardware and software. Currently 22 states recognise Taiwan as the Republic of China (ROC) out of which six are PICs (Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Solomon Islands, and Tuvalu). While China’s aid policy in Oceania was partly aimed to contest the political position of Taiwan, the PICs benefitted not just by the virtue of their voting rights but also due to their relative proximity to the rivals and lack of development across the region. Therefore through a combination of trade, aid and diplomacy, Beijing has achieved semblance of a new regional order with itself in a leadership position, pushing out the traditional points-man, the US, and the regional powers Australia and New Zealand. In the case of Fiji, the strengthening of the relationship with China had been prodded by the sanctions imposed by Australia and New Zealand. Japan competes with China for access to Pacific timber, minerals and UN votes including for its whaling interests. Over the past few years the US has shown much more interest in Fiji and the Pacific in general as it took a fresh look at China’s involvement in the region. The US diplomatic representation in Suva increased; in 2012 then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton participated in the Pacific Islands Forum in Rarotonga and visited other Pacific countries. Indian Interest India’s ties with Fiji have fluctuated with the political instability in the island nation. The armed overthrow of governments in 1987 and 2000 were triggered by racial tensions as a radical section of indigenous Fijians objected to political power passing into the hands of the Indians. Out of the population of 849,000 in Fiji, 37% are people of Indian origin. Fiji’s first prime minister of Indian origin, Mahendra Chaudhry, was deposed in 2000; he was finance minister in the Fiji Labour Party government that was ousted in 1987. After the 1987 coup, the high commission of India and Indian Cultural Centre were closed on May 24, 1990. The high commission was subsequently reopened in March 1999 and the Indian Cultural Centre in February 2005. Fiji established its first high commission in New Delhi in January 2004. India is now looking at hosting a meeting of the Pacific Islands Forum in New Delhi next year. Modi’s foreign policy has been characterised by outreach to countries with substantial Indian-origin population and has resulted in extensive outreach programmes in Japan, US, Myanmar, Australia and now Fiji. India has in the past availed of the “strategic services” of the PICs when it had set up an online communications system for the islands to win their support for the Indo-US nuclear deal several years ago. It has also had a long economic relationship with Nauru, a major exporter of phosphates and the mineral-rich Papua New Guinea. The PICs, through platforms such as the “Durban coalition” and bilaterally, enable India to address and build consensus in areas such as global climate change, carbon emission targets and sea-level rise impacts, which are of great concern to these island nations. India’s expanding naval presence is in keeping with the view that there is a need to have sea lanes of communication open. It also enables it to project maritime power, both alone and in concert with US, Australia and Japan, in a region where Chinese presence is significant. In this regard analysts see a key role for Fiji, with whom India has traditional diaspora-supported strong relations which can be leveraged for enhanced maritime presence in the South Pacific region. (Monish Gulati is a Senior Research Fellow with the Society for Policy Studies. He can be contacted at m_gulati_2001@yahoo) This article was published by South Asia Monitor. Monish Gulati Monish Gulati is a Senior Fellow with Society for Policy Studies, New Delhi. He can be reached at m_gulati_2001@yahoo
Posted on: Sat, 22 Nov 2014 08:04:36 +0000
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