Academic says Fiji has made new friends

Transcript

An academic following Pacific relations says Fiji has made new allies in the past eight years and the political landscape has changed.

New Zealand Defence Minister, Gerry Brownlee, visited Fiji last week in a bid to rebuild defence co-operation and engagement following Fiji's elections in September.

Mr Brownlee's trip to Suva follows a list of recent visits by top military representatives from France, Britain, Australia and the US.

The University of Fiji's director of the Centre for International and Regional Affairs, Richard Herr, told Amelia Langford, Fiji's older allies cannot expect to pick up where they left off.

RICHARD HERR: The issue really is how to reengage effectively and what's different, of course, as Fiji itself has made the point, in the eight years during the military sanctions on Fiji, they have made new friends. And the military spokesperson for the Fiji military has made it clear they are not going to abandon the new friendships for the sake of the old ones so that means a new complexion, a new pattern of relationships will have to be developed.

AMELIA LANGFORD: And there would you be talking about China and Russia?

RH: China, Russia, India, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates, they have all figured one way or another in closer ties over the last eight years that have filled the void that was left by the departure of some of the more traditional friends.

AL: So these old players may come back on the scene and find things have changed quite dramatically?

RH: I think they will. I think there was a bit of surprise when the Fiji military delivered the news that they would like to reengage but it would not be business as usual. Meaning as I think they've said - this is the first step and not the final end of what re-engagement will require.

AL: Do you think it's problematic that these old friends - they are coming back because Fiji has had these democratic elections - but these countries are still dealing with the people involved in the 2006 coup?

RH: Well, if they feel it is problematic then it is problematic but I don't see that it should be. We have been through this before, in the case of Fiji, we've been through it with other countries that have had coups and we have had to restore relations and deal with new circumstances with them so it is not necessarily uncharted territory. And I think part of the problem is in your question - while waiting till after every 'T' has been crossed and every 'I' dotted before even trying to rebuild aspects of trust - that will, itself, leave a legacy that will be part of the problem.

AL: Right. So it could have been better to do it gradually?

RH: It would have been better to have a graduated re-engagement and done so in a way that made some of the process of the engagement less contingent on, I guess, proof from Fiji. I mean much more than what we have required from other countries that we have dealt with like Zimbabwe, or Myanmar, or so on. I think that was part of the feeling that Fiji had was that the level of proof before re-engagement was higher than it should have been and certainly that is at least part of the issues that are on the table for being addressed.