{"id":50441,"date":"2019-09-09T13:28:02","date_gmt":"2019-09-09T03:28:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=50441"},"modified":"2019-09-09T13:28:21","modified_gmt":"2019-09-09T03:28:21","slug":"bainimarama-visit-to-show-state-of-pacific-family-ties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/bainimarama-visit-to-show-state-of-pacific-family-ties\/","title":{"rendered":"Bainimarama visit to show state of Pacific family ties"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

My colleague Graeme Dobell declared recently that \u2018Scott Morrison\u2019s embrace of the \u201cPacific family\u201d is goddamn genius<\/a>.\u2019<\/p>\n

I have expressed a more cautionary view that claiming a place in the Pacific family could have unintended consequences<\/a> that might complicate Canberra\u2019s regional relations.<\/p>\n

As tempted as I am to claim vindication in the wake of the political fireworks at the recent Pacific Islands Forum leaders\u2019 meeting in Tuvalu, there are reasons for not rushing too quickly to dismiss the Pacific family notion.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll get a better idea of the state of the familial relationship when Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama visits Canberra to meet with Morrison later this week.<\/p>\n

Clearly the gambit wasn\u2019t a political success at Funafuti and, arguably, it served to intensify the regional pushback on Australia\u2019s climate change policy.<\/p>\n

Solomon Islands opposition leader Matthew Wale pointedly used familial expectations to underscore his disappointment<\/a>. \u2018Pacific islanders were hoping for sincerity when we hear \u2018we\u2019re family\u2019<\/a>. We were mistaken\u2019, he said.<\/p>\n

Wale\u2019s was not a lone voice. There were reports<\/a> that Morrison\u2019s constant references to being part of the Pacific family were offensive given his unwillingness to support the family consensus.<\/p>\n

Even Australian critics of the government\u2019s lukewarm position on climate change at the forum piled on, with headlines<\/a> like \u2018Morrison\u2019s monumental dysfunctional Pacific \u201cfamily\u201d failure\u2019.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, back in Australia, Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack\u2019s comment<\/a> that islanders could survive climate change by picking Australian fruit suggested nothing short of a paternalistic view that they should be grateful for an allowance for doing the chores.<\/p>\n

It could be argued that Morrison was simply guilty of over-reach. Taking what started as a bilateral rapprochement with Fiji, he rebranded it as his \u2018step-up\u2019 policy with a warmer regional image of inclusiveness.<\/p>\n

Morrison\u2019s \u2018Pacific family\u2019 motif grew out of a meeting with Bainimarama in January. Using vuvale<\/em>, an iTaukei word meaning \u2018family\u2019, the two PMs announced<\/a> the \u2018Fiji\u2013\u2013Australia Vuvale Partnership\u2019 to enhance their long-troubled bilateral relationship.<\/p>\n

The extent to which even the bilateral familial ties have survived Tuvalu reasonably intact might be questioned. Bainimarama appeared to downgrade the relationship, saying<\/a>, \u2018I thought Morrison was a good friend of mine; apparently not.\u2019<\/p>\n

There will be a couple of occasions this month to see how much rebalancing might be needed to recover friendship much less kinship.<\/p>\n

Bainimarama is due to make his first official visit to Australia since the 2006 coup that put him in power, so that he and Morrison can see what a working party has done to implement their vuvale partnership.<\/p>\n

Perhaps more telling could be an appearance at the UN General Assembly at the end of the month, when Bainimarama will report on climate change progress along with other regional leaders.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s difficult to see how this won\u2019t rekindle the passions of Tuvalu unless the Canberra meeting achieves an accommodation that the leaders\u2019 meeting in Funafuti failed to find.<\/p>\n

Defenders of the Pacific family concept may see criticism as one-sided, but was there ever another side? It was a bilateral initiative unilaterally extended to a region asked to accept it in good faith.<\/p>\n

The heat in Tuvalu demonstrated that the region wouldn\u2019t accept it sola fide<\/em> but wanted something to justify Australia\u2019s claim of family membership.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, many regional leaders seemed to have it both ways. They appeared willing to hope that a \u2018family\u2019 tie would deliver positive regional outcomes but then used it as a cudgel against Australia for failing to meet their expectations of it.<\/p>\n

So, was there a double standard here?<\/p>\n

The island leaders were certainly well within their rights to criticise Australia for not behaving like they might expect of a member of the Pacific family. It was the Morrison government that created these expectations.<\/p>\n

Yet, the elephant was sitting in the same room with Morrison and Bainimarama when they met in Suva in January to agree to the vuvale partnership. It was there again when Foreign Minister Marise Payne met with Bainimarama in June to further the family rapprochement.<\/p>\n

Opportunities, both bilateral and regional, existed to find a way within the Pacific family to avoid the \u2018domestic\u2019 punch-up that was the Tuvalu meeting, but somehow no Dutch uncle emerged from the island side to find a family-friendly workaround to deal with the imbroglio.<\/p>\n

Quite the reverse. The draft Tuvalu declaration (subsequently revised as the Kainaki II declaration<\/em> for urgent climate change action now<\/em>) seemed to be crafted to ensure a punch-up given the region\u2019s awareness of Australia as a global coal producer and the Morrison government\u2019s political alignment with the industry.<\/p>\n

The Morrison government now must confront a serious post-Tuvalu image challenge. Has the \u2018Pacific family\u2019 badge been too badly damaged?<\/p>\n

The evidence, both bilaterally and regionally, suggests that a rethink is necessary.<\/p>\n

Bainimarama\u2019s public ire immediately after the forum was such that he revived his 2010 suggestion that Australia should not even be in the regional forum\u2014a thought later echoed<\/a>, albeit more softly, by Kiribati\u2019s former president, Anote Tong.<\/p>\n

History may support a long view<\/a> that Australia\u2019s relationship with the region will survive the current quarrel, but this doesn\u2019t guarantee a kindred relationship.<\/p>\n

Perhaps Australia should concentrate on being the \u2018partner of choice<\/a>\u2019 or a proper best friend?<\/p>\n

As I noted out in my review of Chinese and Australian soft power<\/a> in the region, Australia has depth and reach that China can\u2019t match even if, occasionally, island elites like to portray Beijing as a better friend than Canberra in the heat of the moment.<\/p>\n

But familiar is not familial. If Morrison wants to make membership of the Pacific family a reality and thus an act of genius, the family has to want to see us in this light.<\/p>\n

For my part, despite my caution, I hope Dobell might be right\u2014someday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My colleague Graeme Dobell declared recently that \u2018Scott Morrison\u2019s embrace of the \u201cPacific family\u201d is goddamn genius.\u2019 I have expressed a more cautionary view that claiming a place in the Pacific family could have unintended …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":50444,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[17,265,1049,2281],"class_list":["post-50441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-australia","tag-fiji","tag-frank-bainimarama","tag-scott-morrison"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBainimarama visit to show state of Pacific family ties | 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\" 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