Fiji Shows The Way To Scale Back On China

Rabuka's move proved successful. After forming a coalition with the NFP and SODELPA, he became the new prime minister of Fiji on Christmas Eve 2022. The change of administration ended 16 years of controversial rule under Bainimarama. Fiji was about to head in new directions politically.

Debates prior to the December 2022 election centered on critical domestic issues such as health, education and the economy, as well as more divisive topics such as funding for indigenous affairs, corruption and accountability for past military coups.

The election also raised differences over foreign policy, with Bainimarama's administration represented as too close to China – a shift born from the isolation of diplomatic and economic sanctions in Fiji's post-2006 coup period.

Under Bainimarama, in 2018, Fiji signed a memorandum of understanding on Belt and Road Initiative cooperation codifying over a decade's worth of Chinese migration, aid, trade and investment.

At a testy Pacific Islands Forum Leaders meeting in 2019 Bainimarama
said ,“The Chinese don't insult us.... They don't go down and tell the world that we've given this much money to the Pacific islands. They don't do that. They're good people.”

As the 2022 elections drew closer, opposition parties adopted positions that would slow the pace of relations with the People's Republic of China and move toward more favorable engagement with so-called traditional partners.

Further, a security deal signed between the Solomon Islands and China set off a regional debate about the role of external powers in traditional security arrangements in Oceania.

SODELPA and PAP , and even FijiFirst , sensing the electorate's waning feelings toward China and the reemergence of the United States in regional affairs, came out against the idea of such an agreement for Fiji.

In the period between election day and the appointment of Rabuka as prime minister, Bill Govoka – as he pondered whether to join PAP and NFP in a coalition government – told
the Australian Broadcasting Corporation,“For SODELPA, our relationship in foreign affairs will be aligned closely to Australia, New Zealand and the members of the Pacific Island forum.”

In the period immediately following the formation of the new government, now Prime Minister Rabuka set about on an ambitious agenda to set right the perceived domestic wrongs of the Bainimarama administration and to realign Fiji's sometimes uncooperative standpoints on regional issues.

For example, in April, the coalition
overturned
the restrictive 2010 Media Industry Development Act and sought to
atone
on the state's behalf for the treatment of dissenters to the Bainimarama administration.

To signal Fiji's more cooperative role in regional affairs, Rabuka was prominent in
facilitating
the return of Kiribati to the Pacific Islands Forum after it had resigned in protest at the appointment of Henry Puna to the position of secretary-general.

Prime Minister Rabuka also
approved
the return of University of South Pacific Vice Chancellor Pal Ahluwalia to Fiji and resumed state funding, suspended under FijiFirst, of the region's leading higher education institution.

Issues over USP also precipitated a sequence of events leading to legal charges for Bainimarama. In March, Fijian authorities accused former prime minister Bainimarama and police commissioner Sitiveni Qiliho of tampering with an inquiry into financial misconduct at USP. Their trial began in July.

Foreign policy mirrors these rapid developments in domestic and regional affairs in the months since Rabuka assumed office.

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In contrast to the early years of isolation under the Bainimarama administration, the strategic environment in the region has become increasingly complex with significant policy commitments and suitors reemerging, including the United States , Australia , Aotearoa New Zealand , India , Korea and Japan , as well as the establishment of the Partners of the Blue Pacific in September 2022.

Rabuka made haste of his pre-election pledge to scale back relations with China,
noting ,“Our system of democracy and justice systems are different so we will go back to those that have similar systems with us.”

The shift was premised not only on political values, but also
on support
for traditional partners on issues unpopular with Pacific Islanders, particularly Australia's acquisition of nuclear submarines under the AUKUS security pact.
AUKUS , a defense agreement between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, is a response to China's growing military capabilities.

Militarization and deployment of nuclear technology in a region experiencing the health and environmental traumas produced by nuclear testing proved
unwelcome
in Oceania. In this context, Rabuka's backing for Australia was a considerable marker of new times.

However, this resolve in establishing in domestic and foreign affairs has not resulted in complete breaks with the past. As we will see in part two,“How to choose,” Fiji has been put to the test in“how not choose” amid geostrategic competition.

Henryk Szadziewski PhD ( ) is an affiliate of the Center for Pacific Islands Studies at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.

His work on Oceania and China has been published in Political Geography, Geographical Research, and Asia Policy. He is currently working on a book, Mapping Chinese Fiji.

Republished with the kind permission of Pacific-Forum. Read the original here .

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