Australia and New Zealand kicked out Fiji’s top envoys yesterday in retaliation for a similar move by the Pacific country’s military regime, abruptly raising regional tensions.
The two countries made near-simultaneous announcements a day after Fiji said it would expel their senior diplomats in Suva over alleged interference in its judicial matters.
Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said acting high commissioner Kamlesh Kumar Arya had been ordered to return to Suva within 24 hours, adding that he was “deeply disappointed” at Fiji.
He rejected claims of meddling in the island nation, which has already been suspended from the Commonwealth and from the Pacific Islands Forum for failing to return to democracy since its latest coup in 2006.
“This excuse is neither warranted, reasonable nor justified, and regrettably it takes Fiji’s relationship with Australia, Fiji’s relationship with New Zealand ... the Pacific Islands Forum and ... the international community backwards,” Smith told reporters in Perth.
His New Zealand counterpart Murray McCully said Fiji’s acting head of mission, Kuliniasi Seru Savou, had been ordered out of the country in response to Suva’s expulsion of top diplomat Todd Cleaver.
“Diplomatic relations with Fiji are roughly the same they have been for the last couple of years unfortunately,” McCully told reporters in Wellington. “We have had our ups and downs and unfortunately today they are down.”
Australia and New Zealand have led condemnation of Commodore Frank Bainimarama since he toppled the elected government in a December 2006 coup, and have both imposed travel sanctions on people associated with the regime.
Bainimarama accused Australia and New Zealand of attacking Fiji’s judiciary over alleged attempts to block judges from traveling to their countries.
He also said the heads of their diplomatic missions had refused to engage with the government and were waging “a negative campaign against the government and people of Fiji.”
“We are suspended from the Commonwealth. Australia and New Zealand have suspended us from the [Pacific Islands] Forum,” Bainimarama told New Zealand’s Radio Tarana.
“So it really doesn’t make any difference. But ... we can’t afford to be bullied,” he said.
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said Canberra would maintain a tough stance on Fiji to prevent its “coup culture,” including four power-grabs over two decades, spreading around the Pacific.
“Commodore Bainimarama has conducted the military coup, he has violated the Constitution, he has refused to hold elections, and he’s suspended the judiciary,” Rudd told public broadcaster ABC.
“And so therefore we have taken a deliberately hardline approach to this regime because we do not want this coup culture to spread,” he said.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese