Taipei, Taiwan – New Zealand is lobbying the French Pacific territory to respond to news that a controversial security deal between China and the Solomon Islands has alarmed Western capitals, newly revealed. This was revealed in the document.
Diplomatic cables obtained by Al Jazeera show that within days of a draft security agreement leaked online in March 2022, representatives from New Zealand, Australia and France met to discuss the implications for the region. We were meeting.
The exact nature of the discussions is unclear because the documents are redacted, but cables suggest Wellington expects officials from French Polynesia and New Caledonia to take a position on the China-Solomon Islands agreement. ing.
New Zealand diplomats in New Caledonia's capital Nouméa said in a report to Wellington that neither French Polynesia nor New Caledonia was “likely to take a public position” on the deal.
After a March 30 meeting with New Caledonia's High Commissioner Patrice Faure, New Zealand officials reported that they had conveyed an unspecified “proposal” to the French side, adding that “an initial response would be to communicate with Pacific leaders. “It needs to come from the leaders of each country,” he said. [Pacific Islands Forum]”.
“We suggested that it would be helpful to Faure…” the New Zealand diplomat said, referring to the proposed action, details of which were redacted in the document.
“Mr. Fauré has also undertaken to speak with his counterpart in Papeete, High Commissioner Solan, with the same objective in mind,” the diplomats said, referring to French Polynesia's High Commissioner Dominique Solan. Ta.
According to the documents, New Zealand officials held a total of three meetings with officials from French overseas territories between March 29 and March 30, including French Polynesia's Edouard Fritsch. It also included meetings with the President and New Zealand Director of Regional Cooperation and External Relations François Béheux. New Caledonia.
Alison Carrington, Australia's consul general in New Caledonia at the time, also joined Kiwi diplomats in talks with Mr Faure and Mr Behue, the document said.
The foreign ministries of New Zealand and Australia and the French high commissioners of New Caledonia and French Polynesia did not respond to Al Jazeera's requests for comment.
News of a 2022 security agreement between the Solomon Islands and China has caused alarm in the United States, Australia and New Zealand, which have long considered the Pacific island nation their geopolitical backyard.
Western officials said China could use the deal to establish a military base in the Solomon Islands, about 2,000 kilometers (1,242 miles) from Australia and 3,000 kilometers (1,864 miles) from major U.S. military facilities in Guam. They have expressed concern that there is. Honiara denied this.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern at the time called the deal “gravely concerning” and warned it could lead to the “militarization” of the Pacific, echoing similar warnings from the United States and Australia.
Despite having more than 500,000 French nationals and 2,800 military personnel stationed across the Pacific, France's response to the deal was relatively muted.
New Caledonia and French Polynesia elect parliaments that deal with internal matters, while Paris is responsible for territorial security and defense.
New Caledonia, where the French military base is located, is less than 1,400 kilometers (870 miles) south of the Solomon Islands, and the indigenous Kanak people share ethnic ties with the Solomon Islanders.
Anna Powles, a senior lecturer at Massey University's Center for Defense and Security Studies, said the diplomatic cables suggested Wellington wanted to send a “clear message to Paris that any response needs to be Pacific-led”. Stated.
Powles said that although French President Emmanuel Macron has put Asia-Pacific at the center of his diplomatic strategy since 2018, neither France nor its overseas territories have been very active in the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF).
France is not a member of the Forum, but indirectly has a seat at the table through its overseas territories.
Macron's attempts to work more closely in the region with members of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance – Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK and the US – were hit by the collapse of a submarine deal with Canberra in 2021 In response, the AUKUS security alliance was formed between Australia, the UK and the US, and relations have since improved.
In December, France hosted the South Pacific Defense Ministers' Meeting in Nouméa, with Australia, Chile, Fiji, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, and Tonga participating, and Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States attending as observers.
France's move to expand its influence in the Pacific comes amid pro-independence movements in New Caledonia and French Polynesia, and Paris is concerned about China's growing influence.
Last year, Macron warned of a “new imperialism” in the Pacific in remarks that appeared to be aimed at China, although he did not name it.
Cleo Pascal, non-resident senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said the diplomatic cables appeared to show New Zealand was trying to circumvent French bureaucracy.
“I would have thought that if they were serious about France… they could just go to the French embassy in Wellington. It's clumsy at best, and the complexities of French-Chinese relations… We don't necessarily fully understand the situation,” Pascal told Al Jazeera.
Pascal said it was difficult to gauge New Zealand's intentions because Wellington was working to improve relations with China at the time, while the Pacific Islands Forum had little say on issues involving the Solomon Islands and China.
“Frankly, I don’t know what they are doing. PIF would not issue such a statement, but the only regional leaders who have issued a statement on this matter are: It is. [President] “David Panuelo is from the Federated States of Micronesia, and he didn't have any open support from the whole region,” she said.
“New Zealand was trying to normalize relations with China and was trying to rally the PIF to say something. That was the public knowledge of New Zealand's position at the time, and the PIF's position even now. It's not consistent with what I was doing.”
