{"id":12572,"date":"2014-03-04T11:00:30","date_gmt":"2014-03-04T00:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=12572"},"modified":"2014-03-06T10:25:32","modified_gmt":"2014-03-05T23:25:32","slug":"sweet-and-sour-goodies-for-fiji-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/sweet-and-sour-goodies-for-fiji-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Sweet and sour goodies for Fiji (part 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Sweet<\/a><\/figure>\n

All change for Fiji. The Supremo is hanging up his uniform and becoming a civilian leader to give his New Order vision democratic credentials. For Canberra and Suva, this is the time to change the script as everyone prepares for elections. This series started<\/a> by discussing the systemic struggle between Australia as the status quo power in the South Pacific and Fiji as the revisionist power.<\/p>\n

My previous column<\/a> discussed the sweet and the sour of the diplomatic goodies Australia is deploying as it pursues normalisation. Now I\u2019ll turn to the range of mutually beneficial goodies on offer.<\/p>\n

First up is a public service \u2018twinning\u2019 arrangement so that Fijian officials can work in Canberra and Australians in Suva. This is a major break from a long history of distrust and argy bargy. In her Suva visit, Australia\u2019s Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop, was upbeat about how quickly the \u2018twinning\u2019 idea could be made to happen:<\/p>\n

I believe that we will see more Australian engagement in Fiji. We have offered to send our public servants over here in areas such as the Treasury, Finance, Foreign Affairs\u2014that was well received. Likewise, we\u2019ve invited representatives of the Fijian public service to Australia in various areas and that seemed to be well received. So the steps will hopefully transform into reality over the weeks ahead.<\/p>\n

The struggle between Australia and Fiji over the regional system will have to be calmed before Australian public servants are launched into Fiji\u2019s bureaucracy. And it\u2019ll be a strange look if Oz public servants head to Suva to start \u2018twinning\u2019 ahead of Australia\u2019s High Commissioner to Fiji, Margaret Twoomey. After all, she has been waiting to be admitted to Fiji since her appointment was announced in 2012.<\/p>\n

Also on the agenda is defence cooperation, which was suspended after the 2006 coup. The resumption of defence contacts involves myriad steps, such as the exchange of defence attaches, officer training and the entry of Fiji\u2019s Defence Minister to the annual South Pacific Defence Minister\u2019s Meeting<\/a>, which started last year. The eventual return to joint training will be helped by the fact that a certain Fijian Commodore will no longer be in uniform. As Anthony Bergin wrote last week<\/a>,\u00a0restoring defence cooperation means Australia can support Fiji\u2019s UN peacekeeping efforts and explore wider national security cooperation in maritime affairs, disaster resilience, law enforcement and cyber security. The \u2018twinning\u2019 model opens new avenues.<\/p>\n

Fiji will also be invited to be part of Australia\u2019s Pacific Maritime Security Program. Fiji has a standing defence pledge that it will be readmitted to the Pacific Patrol Boat program \u2018upon a return to democracy\u2019. Suva got that nod in the Australian Defence White Paper last year, which promised to replace the existing Pacific Patrol Boats as they come to the end of their service from 2018 to 2028. The three boats Australia gave Fiji are due to reach their end of service life in 2024-25, so the replacement counts as a long term promise. (See the paper by Anthony Bergin and Sam Bateman on the Pacific Patrol Boat program here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Other avenues of increased cooperation include:<\/p>\n