“China is influencing the whole world, not just the region."


Fiji's foreign minister, Kaliopate Tavola, is one of the Pacific's most experienced and accomplished diplomats. As ambassador for Fiji to the European Union, he became a key figure in the management of the region's relations with the EU and with the African and Caribbean nations with the Pacific group of countries that have a trade and aid pact with the Europeans. He was brought into politics in 2001 by Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase because of a record of experience and credibility that Qarase's government badly needed.
What Tavola says about China's influence in the Pacific:


Q: What is your view on China's influence in the region? Should we in the Pacific be wary of this huge effort by Beijing to court our sympathy in order to keep Taiwan out? Do you believe that China is bullying, blackmailing its way in the region and heavily resorting to chequebook diplomacy?

“China is influencing the whole world, not just the region. China's impact is huge and will grow. The region has to learn to manage this new phenomenon, rather than being wary about it. The return for our efforts will grow and grow. Other countries and regions are doing just this. Under the One China Policy, any country can have commercial relations with Taiwan. There is no restriction on this matter. That provides of course a window of opportunity. The region should see China in the same light it regards the EU for the future of the region. The region should work on getting China to be more involved in regional development and formalise any arrangement under a treaty. The start of this may already be emerging when China convenes an economic forum for PIC leaders this March in Suva. What is chequebook diplomacy nowadays is somewhat indefinable. Conditionalties are meant for promises for more aid package. Conditionalties can come in many forms. As such, many donors can be said to be guilty of this practice. What PICs can do is to negotiate with China bilaterally on a multi-annual programme of aid packages rather than just aid through projects. The region has to come to grips with the China factor. China today is not the China of old that decided to shut itself from the rest of the world. The China today is globalising and modernising. China today is changing the polarities of global relations. The region should use its proximity to align itself and negotiate development packages in the interest of the region and the wider region at large.”


Q: The tussle between China and Taiwan has been a major cause of worry (some would argue instability) in Kiribati, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and to an extent in Nauru, Fiji and PNG. Should this be a cause for concern for regional diplomats like you?

“The regional approach as far as China is concerned is what I have discussed above. Over time this approach can bring some rationality in the way we conduct our relations with Taiwan. That can promise peaceful co-existence. That is for the medium to long-term. Currently, a number of PICs have aligned themselves to Taiwan. They are exercising their sovereign rights to do this and that cannot be questioned.

“The concern arises on how the region should configure its organisations' membership to allow co-existence of both China and Taiwan. Other regions and other international bodies are able to do this. We should learn from their experience.

“At the wider regional level, especially in the Northern Pacific area, the relations between China and Taiwan and how the big global powers view and respond to this, is something we have to monitor closely. A comforting thought is that the China factor is going to bring its own dynamics to global polarities and bilateral and multilateral relations. There is a grain of hope there that these dynamics will tend to result in more optimism than pessimism.”


Q: Taiwan was embroiled in controversy during elections in Kiribati in 2003 over allegations that it funded the campaigns of some candidates. With the elections scheduled in several Pacific countries this year including Fiji, should such overtures be tolerated, and how could island countries protect themselves from such interferences?

“There is an accepted mode of diplomatic (bilateral and multilateral) relations which is the principle of non-interference in internal matters. Funding general election is interference. A reference to this matter should be reflected in the existing code of conduct for the region, if not there already.”