Fijian vow to hold the line on China influence

China’s aggressive bid for South Pacific power will meet strong resistance if Fiji’s former PM Sitiveni Rabuka returns to office.

Former Fiji prime minister Sitiveni Rabuka says that if he is returned to power he will resist China’s push for dominance in the South Pacific. Picture Stephen Cooper

China’s aggressive bid to exert power in the South Pacific will meet strong resistance if Fiji’s former prime minister Sitiveni Rabuka returns to office this year, with the two-time coup leader vowing to side with Australia as Beijing steps up its battle for dominance in the region.

The pledge comes as Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi arrives in Suva for a meeting of regional leaders on Monday, aiming to push as many as 10 Pacific nations to sign a new trade and security deal that has alarmed Canberra.

Mr Rabuka said Beijing’s ­attempt to tie security issues to trade agreements was dangerous.

“They’re trying to lure us into their camp,” he said. “I think we should be very cautious. The Australian alliance had been tested and this one would be relatively new with a lot of unknowns.”

A Rabuka government would not countenance Chinese military bases on Fijian soil, or entertain a Solomon Islands-style pact to allow China to train Fijian police or military.

“I would not be comfortable doing that, we have different systems and we would rather stick with our traditional system,” Mr Rabuka said.

Recent polling suggests Mr Rabuka could beat bitter rival and incumbent Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama at an election due by the end of the year, but possibly as early as July, either on his own or in coalition with the traditionally Indo-Fijian-dominated National Federation Party, headed by economist Biman Prasad.

Mr Rabuka and Professor Prasad were in Sydney at the weekend for talks with expat ­Fijian leaders and to appear at a series of fundraisers.

Mr Rabuka said there was a real danger that Mr Bainimarama, now facing a domestic economic crisis, would accede to some of Beijing’s lucrative offers simply for his own political survival.

That might extend to selling critical areas of Fiji’s infrastructure such as airport and sea ports to Chinese interests, he said.

“They will think about that, and not just think, their hands are forced, they will have to do something like that but they should know that there are other ways of doing it,” he said, vowing to oppose any such deals. “We don’t want to sell our souls, that is tantamount to selling our soul.

“They are hoping to take over our fishing grounds and all those things. They will probably be ­offering us facilities to be able to police them better, so that they can use them more freely. In our case, I think we should be very, very cautious, very careful before we say yes. We would not want to put all that into the hands of a powerful fisherman. We’d like to keep it available for ourselves and the world.”

Mr Rabuka and Professor Prasad welcomed the new Labor government of Anthony Albanese. Mr Rabuka described Scott Morrison as a personal friend after many shared prayer breakfasts, but said that relationship had not led to closer official ties.

“I wish we could have extended the personal friendship into co-operation or even exchange of ideas, but we didn’t,” he said. “When the Solomons deal came out I felt that Australia was sleeping on the job, neglecting the region. I think it will be better potentially with a Labor government. They have a better understanding of the plight of these smaller states and our willingness to co-operate with Australia, so I hope they will take advantage of that.”

Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s hasty visit to Fiji ahead of Mr Wang’s arrival was well received in Suva, but Mr Bainimarama’s government has strongly encouraged Chinese investment in the past and is expected to take a lead in any regional agreement.

On Sunday, Mr Bainimarama tweeted that he had “a wonderful meeting” with Senator Wong, but noted that “Fiji is not anyone’s backyard” – echoing word-for-word a warning by Mr Wang about attempts by other countries – implicitly the US and Australia – to intervene in the region.

Professor Prasad said the Bainimarama government was particularly susceptible to offers from China because of Fiji’s dire economic straits.

“That is a real possibility because for ... Frank Bainimarama and (Attorney-General) Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, their overwhelming preoccupation right now is to hold on to power and if China offers them something big and be assured that they can remain in power, I think they will go with them,” he said.

“China found an easy partnership because they like to deal with dictatorial autocratic governments, so they found an easy way out in Fiji. I think the Chinese are saying, hey, you know, we’ve helped you, we’ve given you all these things during your time – now let’s get into something big. And this so-called Pacific-wide strategy is designed to do that.”

But the pledge of support for Australia from the two leaders comes with a strong caveat: Fiji cannot be taken for granted, as it has in the past, they said.

Mr Rabuka stressed the importance of regaining a healthy relationship with Australia that has eroded – partly, he concedes, because of his own military coups in 1987: “We need to be looking at long-term partnership not Band-Aid solutions which we have had and hopefully we will get a good deal, we will return to the good partnerships we had in the past. “We don’t want to have to continue to rely on an aid recipient mentality, we want to be strong enough to paddle our own canoe in the Pacific.”

Mr Rabuka and Professor Prasad have signed a memorandum of understanding outlining a future coalition that would counter the government’s racially balanced team of Mr Bainimarama and Mr Sayed-Khaiyum.

Mr Rabuka acknowledged such a combination would be ­essential to dispel longstanding antipathy by Indo-Fijians over his 1987 coups, which reasserted ethnic Fijian supremacy over Fijians of Indian descent.

He says he is sure the Bainimarama government would go to the Court of Disputed Returns if it loses the election, but is confident it would ultimately accept defeat, contrary to widespread concern that the military might intervene to keep Mr Bainimarama in power.

Mr Rabuka and Professor Prasad were arrested last year following their criticism of government moves to amend land legislation, in an increasingly ­authoritarian crackdown by the government on opponents.