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| Srl | Item |
| 1 |
ID:
099748
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| Publication |
2010.
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| Summary/Abstract |
The President of Fiji abrogated the 1997 Constitution in April 2009 and the country was suspended from the Pacific Islands Forum and the Commonwealth, despite Fiji disclosing a potential time line for general elections by 2014 under a new open-list proportional voting system. The European Union subsidy for Fiji's sugar industry was also frozen following accusations that Fiji had breached the 2007 revised Cotonou Agreement, where it promised to hold elections by 2009. This article charts the tensions between the post-2006 coup Fiji government and the 1997 Constitution caused by the legal action from the deposed government, and differences with the Fiji Military Forces Commander Commodore Frank Bainimarama over a quick return to democracy push from the Pacific Islands Forum, the Commonwealth and the European Union. Continued diplomatic pressure from Forum members, Australia and New Zealand increased tensions as Fiji deported the High Commissioners of these two countries in November 2009 and imposed Public Emergency Regulations that curbed freedom of expression of local critics. In what could be seen as a deepening of military rule, Bainimarama clarified in early 2010 that the military would continue to monitor the elected government after the proposed 2014 election and barred mainstream political parties from participating in any future political forum or general elections.
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| 2 |
ID:
163244
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| Summary/Abstract |
With the development of the new Framework for Pacific Regionalism and through collective action on issues such as climate change, home‐grown Pacific regionalism is arguably strengthening. The admission in 2016 of French Polynesia and New Caledonia as full members of the Pacific Islands Forum, however, could potentially shift the balance of policy influence away from Pacific Island members towards that of the Forum's metropolitan members (Australia, New Zealand and now France). While it is early days, this research note makes some beginning observations about where the balance of influence is likely to tilt. We conclude that despite their status as non‐self‐governing territories, New Caledonia and French Polynesia have at times successfully pursued their own interests over those of France and both have much human and economic capital to offer their Pacific Island peers. We also suggest that assuming France's territories will align with the geopolitical interests of Australia and New Zealand and potentially move the Forum back towards a neoliberal agenda, denies the political agency that Pacific Island countries have been increasingly exercising over the Forum's policy. On balance, rather than acting as France's Trojan horse, we argue that the territories’ membership will further strengthen the Pacific canoe.
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| 3 |
ID:
051860
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| 4 |
ID:
163375
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| Summary/Abstract |
As an island country in the Pacific region, it is natural for Japan to have diplomatic relationships with neighboring island countries. By the early 1970s, Japan started to provide Official Development Assistance (ODA) to two individual island countries in the Pacific region, and, in the mid-1980s, when most of the island countries had achieved independence, Japan’s diplomacy expanded to additional countries. In 1985 then Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone made an official visit to two of the island countries, and, in 1987, official policy expressing support for the Pacific island countries’ independence, regional cooperation, political stability, economic development, and people-to-people exchange was issued. In October 1997, the “Japan-SPF Summit Meeting” with participants of leaders from Japan and 14 South Pacific Forum member island countries/regions and government representatives of Australia and New Zealand was held in Tokyo. The 8th Pacific Islands Leaders meeting held in May 2018 is symbolic of Japan’s diplomacy toward the Pacific Islands Forum member countries. This article is the author’s personal observation of Japan’s diplomacy toward Pacific Islands Forum member countries and the significance of Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting.
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