US envoy shares views on his Pacific stint

Samisoni Pareti
The Pacific including Fiji lost a friend when American ambassador Larry Dinger based in Fiji and accredited to it and four other islands countries completed his three-year term in July and returned to Washington DC.

He would not say what he is returning to, although ISLANDS BUSINESS has been told promotion awaits the seasoned American diplomat for a very important posting in Asia. When posted to Suva in 2005 to look after President George Bush’s interests in Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Tonga and Tuvalu, it was actually Ambassador Dinger’s second assignment to the region.

His first posting to Suva was in 1996.

“I asked my son not so long ago what he considers home and he said he actually considers Suva as home,” said Ambassador Dinger.

“Now that may change as life goes on but he has spent more of his life here (Fiji) than anywhere else in the world.

“He has great friends here, he graduated from high school here and we all feel at home here.”

Lasting impressions are many for Ambassador Dinger and these would include the strong relations his country enjoys with all the five countries he was accredited to.

“They all matter and we matter to them.

“The US engagement in this part of the world has been gaining visibility, it has always been there.

“The new public diplomacy office we started here for the region is helping with things like the leaders meeting which happened in Washington in May last year is helping, and in general, the various engagements that we have from the environment to helping out on maritime security, they are all good for the region and good for us.

For Q&A, the outgoing American ambassador took the magazine’s questions about his country’s positions on a wide-range of subjects. PACNEWS editor Makereta Komaidrue also sat in and posed some questions. Here's a condensed version of the interview—

Washington’s declaration of 2007 as the Year of the Pacific:

“It could have left the impression that it was just one year and in 2008 what happens? But we built some in 2007, and we are building from that again in 2008. I hope we will build further from that in 2009 onward. We are literally building a new embassy which is coming along great and that symbolises our engagement as well. It’s a lot of US taxpayers money going into a facility that is intended to be a regional hub for way into the future.”

Fiji’s cycle of coups:

“I think it’s sad. The United States for very good reasons thinks coups are a very bad idea and believes democratic governance is a far the better course. It was clear to the US Government that the solution for that was certainly not a coup and we tried to make that absolutely clear. Washington instructed me to make that absolutely clear to anyone who would possibly listen what the serious consequences would be and why democracy is better."

Claims he incited mutiny for visiting the army camp in Fiji days before the December 2006 coup:

“Washington asked me, Canberra and London both asked their high commissioners that we all should be going up to the camp to meet at the highest levels and try to make very, very clear to the military leadership why a coup would be a bad idea. As it turned out, when we got our instructions, Commodore Bainimarama was in New Zealand. In an attempt to get the message to him, the US Ambassador in Wellington was instructed to try and get to him. We met with the acting commander Teleni and Colonel Driti and what each of us did, I mean I can only speak for myself, but the reality was that each of us was doing the same sort of thing based on instructions from Washington in my case. I tried to make it so clear what the negative consequences were likely to be if Fiji went through a coup, trying to convince the military leadership that they shouldn’t go through with what appeared to be the plan.”

Clearance for Fiji’s ambassador to the United States:

“The Fiji government announced accurately months ago that the US has provided the agreemo to the sending of Ratu Finau Mara to Washington. I don’t believe he’s actually gone, but it’s not because of a problem from the Washington side."

Accusations that foreign diplomats offer biased advice to their home governments against the military-led regime:

“My job is to provide Washington with an accurate assessment of what goes in Fiji. There is nothing in it for me to distort the reality. So the officers at the embassy in Suva make every effort to let Washington know to the best of our abilities what’s going on. Washington then makes it policy judgements and we try to convey those judgements when we need to, and to contribute in any way we can to a positive outcome in this country. It would make no sense for us to be distorting the reality here.”

Accusations of US Embassy personalising visa issuance:

“The US visa policy which was being formulated prior to the coup and which we signal was going to take place if there were  a coup was implemented after the coup. I think the public announcement took place sometime in mid-December (2006) that indeed there were visa ban on those members of the military who could be identified who were part of the coup process and on civilians who were collaborating in that post-coup environment. US government visa policy doesn’t allow blanket sort of arrangements, so it is inevitably name by name. If that’s personalised, then that’s the reality of our law.”

Role of the Pacific Islands Forum on Fiji:

“It has been really heartening but not surprising to see the degree of commitment, the degree of interest that the Forum Islands governments have had for getting the Fiji issue resolved. And that’s not just Australia and New Zealand as is sometimes alleged. What I understand although the US is not a member of the Forum as we are not there first-hand, that it is a region-wide concern that Fiji which is a central player in the region with USP and with other regional institutions needs to get back to political stability.”

Relationship with other islands he was accredited to:

“We have a solid relationship with Tonga, we value their contribution to peacekeeping, we respect that there is a strong movement towards more democratic governance there and efforts are underway to achieve that. The US from its own history as much as anything, and because by observing others, is convinced that democratic governance is the best governance where you gain your strength from the will of the people. It may not look all that efficient and pretty sometimes but Winston Churchill said it’s the worst form of governance except for all others. And I suppose that’s true because it has accountability, because it has true legitimacy, it is the best form of governance and we urge others to have it. These countries in the Pacific, some of them, are still pretty young as independent nations, in the history of the world, it’s a pretty new process and every nation including the US has had issues from time to time in figuring out what the best democratic governance is. The Pacific is no exception. We want to be helpful to the extent we can. These countries may be small in population but each of them has a UN vote. There are ocean resources that are important to the world, there’s a climate here that is important to the world.”

Position on sea level rise as it relates to Tuvalu and Kiribati:

“Preparedness is an important thing and we are looking at ways to help countries maintain their ability to survive if the worst outcome happens from climate change. We’ve contributed towards maintaining seed reserves or developing new kinds of seeds that might grow in a different environment then there is today. At the same time, Washington is prepared to negotiate very productively the follow-on arrangement regarding climate change.”

Help in relocation refugees of sea-level rise:

“We haven’t really been approached much about that to my knowledge. I think the relocation option is probably if it has to happen, it’s way, away yet and not the first choice for the islanders themselves.”

Kyoto Protocol?

“That’s getting close to being history at this point. The next phase of negotiation is going to start shortly and we are committed to engaging in that next phase productively.”

Prospects in Guam for Pacific islands labour for military base construction:

“The reality is that it’s a huge construction project far beyond the capacity of the local labour pool in Guam so people will have to come in from outside to be part of the construction. The other reality is we have visa requirements for workers to come in to the US. We also have requirements that competitive environments need to be in place rather than preferential environments. As far as the Pacific Islands are concerned particularly the southern Pacific Islanders, there is a lot of interest in seeing if islanders from this part of the Pacific can be competitive in competing for jobs in Guam. In the end it’s going to be the companies that have construction contract that will hire people and they will hire on the basis of skills and cost, that’s the way the world works. If Pacific islanders have sufficient skills, and if the costs are competitive, then there are going to be jobs.”

No special quota for Pacific island workers in Guam:

“It’s a globalised competitive environment. There are prospects and it is sensible for Pacific islands nations to be exploring if they can offer skilled workers who can competitively enter into that environment.”

Benefits of Guam base in many forms:

“Pre-planning is already underway, heavy duty construction is going to continue I think up to 2015 or something like that, it’s billions of billions of dollars. There could well be flow out of that increase in the population of Guam to the islands, tourism, divers, all sorts of people who will be located closer to the South Pacific nations, and who may think it makes sense to come and visit. That’s where political stability comes in, will they decide to go to Vanuatu and Samoa or the Cooks or will they decide to come to Fiji?”

Investment and trade between Pacific islands and the US:

“Fiji Water began technically as a Canadian investment but is now owned by an American company and it is a very successful American company. There’s potential, I think particularly in tourism, there are American investors who have put money into tourism and who will be prepared to put more money into tourism, again stable environment matters. In trade, actually there are a lot of opportunities for American companies right now because the American dollar is so weak.”

China/Taiwan’s growing interest and influence in the Pacific:

“China is a big, rapidly developing Pacific nation. It has a long Pacific border just like the United States. It would be inconceivable to me that China would not take any interest in this part of the world and I don’t see how anyone would think that they could be denied the opportunity to have an interest in this part of the world. For that matter Taiwan, I mean the China/Taiwan competition obviously plays in all this but I have seen some really nice projects in the countries.”

Next posting:

“I’m not going to talk about my future at least not publicly.”

Replacement:

“There has been a public announcement that the President has nominated Steven McGaan to be my replacement but the Senate still needs to do a hearing and then have a vote. So the process is not completed. Mr McGaan for the last two years was the director for Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Islands Affairs at the State Department.