Transcript
JOHNNY BLADES: So the United Kingdom has announced a couple of things recently which sort of signify a real re-engagement with the Pacific, and I guess one of them is the reopening of embassies in some countries where it hasn't had a diplomatic presence in some time. These are Tonga, Samoa and Vanuatu. This was announced during last week's Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in London which of course is an event huge in symbolism, and the red carpet was laid out for the leaders of Pacific countries and other Commonwealth countries in regions around the world.
JAMIE TAHANA: Of course, Britain closed all these embassies in what.. the late 1990s or whenever. Why is the Pacific suddenly relevant again. This is surely about Britain looking to take up new opportunities as it prepares to leave the European Union, going back to old friends or colonies?
JB: Absolutely, I think their (the British) Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said the new diplomatic posts for instance are in regions which provide huge potential for British businesses post-Brexit. He also mentioned that security concerns are a reason why they want to get into some of these regions. There were nine new diplomatic posts overall around the world that Britain is reopening. The fact that three of them are in the Pacific Islands, I think it's quite interesting, because this is of course as we've heard a lot lately a highly contested space, a highly contested region in terms of outside influence.
JT: When he said security concerns, we can probably read China in this, can't we?
JB: That's right. There's been all this speculation this month about the motives of China in the Pacific. That became quite frenzied in proximity to claims in some Australian media that the Chinese are looking to establish a naval base in Vanuatu's north, in relation to a big Chinese-funded wharf development in Luganville. Of course, as we know, subsequent to those reports both the Vanuatu and Chinese government denied there is such a plan. But there's no doubt that particularly among those in Australia's government that it is an area of massive concern. And Australia will have engaged with its allies like Britain, the US and New Zealand over that particular worry.
JT: Any indication in the past week or so about hos far that outreach will go? We've heard of a couple of embassies, but there's also talk about climate, the environment and other things. So what's being proposed here and how deep is this engagement?
JB: The engagement may be limited in the long term. But it is interesting that the engagement has a lot to do with oceans and the environment. And that's what they were saying there at the Commonwealth meeting. So we have this Blue Charter on Ocean Governance which all the Commonwealth nations adopted. And without going too far into it, it says that's about committing to efforts to protect oceans and marine environments from threats such as climate change, pollution and over-fishing. But as well, Britain earlier in the week launched this thing called the Oceans Alliance which it is leading with Vanuatu. And that is specifically aimed at fighting plastic pollution of the Pacific and other oceans. Britain has committed just under 90 million US dollars to this Oceans Alliance. And Vanuatu is leading the way with banning plastic bags and polystyrene packages and so forth, and PNG (Papua New Guinea) is following in those footsteps too. So there is this international move towards banning forms of plastic waste, in an effort to get it out of the Pacific ocean. We know that the Pacific ocean is literally littered with massive continents of plastic of many different shapes and sizes. And I think this shows some real political will to help the islands with an area that they area which they are greatly concerned about.
JT: And how have the islands reacted overall?
JB: Well, Tonga's prime minister Akilisi Pohiva said Britain's re-engagement with the Pacific was "music to Tongan ears". They've really welcomed it. But of course they (Pacific Island countries) have a range of partners to choose from these days. It's not just China. There's also Indonesia. There's India too, which has pretty strong links now with Fiji for instance. So all this flurry of activity from those external players who have some sort of skin in the game, I don't think it's going to stop here. The French president will be going out to New Caledonia in the next week or two. Although his focus will of course be on clarifying and solidifying the situation regarding the upcoming independence referendum, France will want to reassert that role as a leader in the Pacific, even though like Britain they are all those miles away. But there' a lot of quite powerful countries with skin in the game here in the region, and we're going to keep seeing this kind of contesting, I think.
