{"id":12588,"date":"2014-03-05T06:00:50","date_gmt":"2014-03-04T19:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=12588"},"modified":"2014-03-06T10:25:27","modified_gmt":"2014-03-05T23:25:27","slug":"fiji-end-sanctions-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/fiji-end-sanctions-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Fiji: end sanctions now"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Commander<\/a>Improved relations between Australia and Fiji would benefit Canberra, Suva, and the region. Such ties would bolster Australia\u2019s regional leadership credentials, assist Fiji\u2019s dealings with its largest trading partner and donor, and prevent further collateral-damage to the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF).<\/p>\n

According to the Fiji Ministry of Information<\/a>,\u00a0Prime Minister, Commodore Voreqe \u2018Frank\u2019 Bainimarama, will step down as head of the Fiji military today. Australia should respond by lifting sanctions right away.<\/p>\n

In 2012, Graeme Dobell noted that the debate between pro-sanctions \u2018hawks\u2019 and pro-engagement \u2018doves\u2019 had become an arid argument<\/a>. The strong points on each side of the debate, friction between key personalities, and mutual distrust had created an impasse. Those who suggested continuing isolation was only deepening regime intransigence and harming Canberra\u2019s influence and interests<\/a> were sometimes branded \u2018appeasers\u2019 by others who argued abandoning fundamental regional values would have significant practical as well as moral repercussions.<\/p>\n

That stalemate is easing thanks, firstly, to the circuit-breaker provided by the election of a new Australian government committed to trying to normalise relations (as one of just eight pre-election foreign policy priorities<\/a>) and, secondly, to Suva\u2019s concrete steps towards proper elections. But while that combination of factors means neither side had to capitulate, and allows each to move on, Richard Herr is probably right to warn the diplomatic breakthrough is as fragile<\/a> as it is welcome.<\/p>\n

Writing about the recent PIF Ministerial Contact Group visit to Suva, including Foreign Minister Julie Bishop\u2019s apparently successful Valentine\u2019s Day meeting<\/a> with Bainimarama, Elke Larsen from the CSIS calls reengagement \u2018the right policy at the right time<\/a>\u2019 but cautions that regional powers need to \u2018keep up pressure to ensure elections are genuinely free and fair’. I\u2019d normally agree it\u2019s sensible to hold some policy levers in reserve and to make any concessions progressively, but in this case I’d suggest that we\u2019re presented with the opportunity and the need to be a bit more audacious than that.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s partly because retaining travel sanctions in principle serves only as an irritant and an insult<\/a> when they\u2019ve already ended in practice (as Dobell notes, only one out of the last 56 requests for compassionate, humanitarian or national interest exemptions<\/a> has been rejected\u2014and that on technical grounds). Whereas Bishop reportedly told Bainimarama the sanctions policy was under review and the next opportunity to take it to cabinet would be after he\u2019s stepped down as army chief, setting-aside any conditionalities was a key ingredient in the success of her meeting with him. We\u2019re likely to get further by trying to totally re-set the relationship than if we seem tricky or inclined to haggle over trading concessions on frustrations such as the non-accreditation<\/a> of our High Commissioner designate. If things go badly, new measures might be preferable to reviving the old ones that helped delegitimise the coup but did little to change Fiji\u2019s behaviour. Let\u2019s instead try to avoid reaching that point by signalling that Bainimarama\u2019s willingness to do the right thing will be rewarded.<\/p>\n

Rowan Callick suggests Bishop\u2019s highlighting the prospect of renewed defence ties was probably crucial<\/a> to demonstrate that Canberra\u2019s ready to go forward in partnership with Suva. But, as Anthony Bergin suggests, it’ll be useful to look beyond just the barracks<\/a> for areas of mutually beneficial security cooperation. ASPI identifies opportunities in areas such as maritime security, enhanced peacekeeping cooperation, disaster resilience, and law enforcement and justice.<\/p>\n

Once Bainimarama steps down as military chief, we’ll have little to lose and much to gain by positively reinforcing that move. A leap of faith now would entail some risk, but not acting carries the greater risk that we\u2019ll miss building sway we might need later.\u00a0Moving forward boldly and in good faith would increase the likelihood of further positive outcomes eventuating. If things go badly, it wouldn\u2019t leave \u2018egg on our face<\/a>\u2019, rather we would have strengthened our moral and practical sway. It\u2019s time to move from the principle of \u2018first, do no harm\u2019<\/a>\u00a0to \u2018seize the day.\u2019<\/p>\n

Karl Claxton is an analyst at ASPI. Image courtesy of the Fijian Government<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Improved relations between Australia and Fiji would benefit Canberra, Suva, and the region. Such ties would bolster Australia\u2019s regional leadership credentials, assist Fiji\u2019s dealings with its largest trading partner and donor, and prevent further collateral-damage …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":100,"featured_media":12592,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[118],"tags":[265,601,285,665,379],"class_list":["post-12588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australia-and-its-region","tag-fiji","tag-foreign-affairs","tag-foreign-policy","tag-julie-bishop","tag-sanctions"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFiji: end sanctions now | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/fiji-end-sanctions-now\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fiji: end sanctions now | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Improved relations between Australia and Fiji would benefit Canberra, Suva, and the region. 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