Row with Fiji a test for Australian diplomacy
Updated
Has Australia missed an opportunity with Fiji, after its decision to embark on a tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsion this week? Australian academic Satish Chand is among critics who say it was a mistake that plays into the hands of Fiji's military ruler, Frank Bainimarama. Professor Chand, from the University of New South Wales, is currently a visiting fellow at the Centre for Global Development in Washington D.C. where he's researching fragile states. He's told our Canberra correspondent Linda Mottram that the situation is now a big test for Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's diplomacy.
Presenter: Canberra correspondent, Linda Mottram
Speaker: Professor Satish Chand of the University of New South Wales
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CHAND: I think at least on the part of Australia, it would have been far more sensible not to expel the diplomat. Let me try and explain. I mean obviously when you have a government as that of Fiji and with a military commander in charge expelling your high commissioner, the quick reaction is a tit-for-tat sort of response, but we have actually played into the hands of the Commander. If Australia had sort of held back and said look, we will not expel your high commissioner, despite the fact that that is exactly what you would want us to do. But let's use this as an opportunity to see if we can talk on the differences. I mean what has happened now is we don't even have this opportunity to talk and my guess is that, as I said, pulling the shutters down. The shutters would remain down in so far as the two governments are concerned for a little while now unfortunately.
MOTTRAM: In the wider sort of view when Brij Lal returned to Australia from Fiji yesterday after his interrogation, he said that he thought that the prospects of a Westminster style democracy for Fiji any time in the future is just gone, that the world will have to accept that the military is going to have a significantly greater role in key Fijian institutions for some considerable time to come. Do you agree?
CHAND: I mean it's hard to predict, I mean how is Brij wrong? I mean Brij is a fairly sensible character and he has been there in Fiji following events much more closely than I have. But I think we have to remember at least the announcements made by both the prime minister in Fiji and the newly appointed president who were saying that we still want Fiji to move towards being a true democracy, and I think on those counts, nobody would disagree with them. It would have been far more helpful if we had started off from these positions of agreement and pushed the country forward. I guess it's very easy to be very pessimistic about Fiji's prospects in terms of moving forward on democracy, plus many other fronts. But I think re-engaging with Fiji, trying to say look, we agree with what you're doing, I think it is going to be a good thing for the region as a whole. If Fiji does create a sort of government where the military remains in power forever, to begin with, first and foremost, that is going to be horrible for Fiji, but it is not going to be all that great for the region as a whole and I think this is a real test for Australian diplomacy.
MOTTRAM: And in terms of the wider region, Foreign Minister Smith has said that and so has Kevin Rudd in fact the prime minister, that the region as a whole agrees with Australia's position on Fiji. Do you think that is the case or is there more work to be done in holding a unified position together in the region?
CHAND: The letter I think, remember the MSG meeting, where the Melanesians came out in support of Fiji and in this particular case, the Prime Minister of Fiji, Prime Minister Bainimarama actually looks stronger in the sense that he has thrown out two of the largest players in the region. But I think the more important point is the following. Australia and New Zealand may sort of act tough, but by doing so, they are not going to change anything in Fiji. I mean surely Australia and New Zealand can be of huge annoyance value to the commodore, but by pulling the shutters down, I mean that is the least effective way of inducing or encouraging change in Fiji.