Taipei, Taiwan – New Zealand pressured France's Pacific territories to respond to news of a controversial security pact between China and the Solomon Islands that raised alarm in Western capitals, newly released documents reveal.
Within days of a draft version of the security pact leaking online in March 2022, representatives from New Zealand, Australia and France met to discuss the implications for the region, diplomatic cables obtained by Al Jazeera show.
While the precise nature of the discussions is unclear due to document edits, the cables suggest that Wellington expected officials from French Polynesia and New Caledonia to take a position on the China-Solomon Islands deal.
New Zealand diplomats in Noumea, the capital of New Caledonia, noted in their reports to Wellington that neither French Polynesia nor New Caledonia “are likely to take a public position” on the deal.
After a meeting with New Caledonian High Commissioner Patrice Faure on March 30, New Zealand officials reported that they had conveyed an unspecified “suggestion” to their French counterpart, “noting the need for the first response to come from the leaders.” of the Pacific and the United States. [Pacific Islands Forum]”.
“We suggested it would be helpful to Faure…” the New Zealand diplomats said, referring to the suggested action whose details are redacted in the documents.
“Faure undertook to do so, as well as to speak with High Commissioner Sorain, his counterpart in Papeete, with the same objective in mind,” the diplomats said, referring to French Polynesia's High Commissioner Dominique Sorain.
New Zealand officials held three meetings in total with officials from French overseas territories between March 29 and 30, documents show, including conversations with French Polynesia President Édouard Fritch and Francois Behue, chief of the department of regional cooperation and foreign relations of New Caledonia.
Australia's then consul general in New Caledonia, Alison Carrington, joined New Zealand diplomats in their meetings with Faure and Behue, according to the documents.
The foreign ministries of New Zealand and Australia, and France's high commissioners in New Caledonia and French Polynesia, did not respond to Al Jazeera's requests for comment.
News of the Solomon Islands-China security pact in 2022 sparked alarm in the United States, Australia and New Zealand, which have long considered the Pacific island nations their geopolitical backyard.
Western officials have expressed concern that China could use the pact to establish a military foothold in the Solomon Islands, which are about 2,000 kilometers (1,242 miles) from Australia and 3,000 kilometers (1,864 miles) from major installations. US military in Guam, which both Beijing and China could use. and Honiara have denied it.
Then-New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Arden called the deal “gravely worrying” and warned it could lead to the “militarization” of the Pacific, echoing similar warnings from the United States and Australia.
France was comparatively silent in its response to the pact despite the presence of more than half a million French citizens and 2,800 military personnel spread across the Pacific.
While New Caledonia and French Polynesia have elected legislatures that deal with internal affairs, Paris deals with the security and defense of the territories.
New Caledonia, home to a French military base, lies less than 1,400 kilometers (870 miles) south of the Solomon Islands and its native Kanak people share ethnic ties with the Solomon Islanders.
Anna Powles, a professor at Massey University's Center for Defense and Security Studies, said the diplomatic cables suggested Wellington wanted to send a “clear message to Paris that any response needed to be Pacific-led.”
Powles said neither France nor its overseas territories have been very active in the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), although French President Emmanuel Macron has made the Asia Pacific a central part of his foreign policy strategy since 2018. .
France is not a member of the forum, but indirectly has a seat at the table through its overseas territories.
Macron's attempts to work more closely with members of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance, made up of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States, in the region were hit after a submarine deal with Canberra collapsed. in 2021, leading to the formation of the AUKUS security alliance between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States, although relations have since improved.
In December, France hosted the South Pacific Defense Ministers' Meeting in Nouméa, joined by Australia, Chile, Fiji, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Tonga, and Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States attending as observers.
France's attempt to expand its influence in the Pacific also comes as independence movements develop in New Caledonia and French Polynesia, where Paris fears growing Chinese influence.
Macron warned last year of a “new imperialism” in the Pacific in comments believed to have been directed at China, although he did not mention Beijing by name.
Cleo Paskal, a non-resident fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, said the diplomatic cables appeared to show New Zealand trying to bypass French bureaucracy.
“I would have thought that if they took France seriously… they could go to the French embassy in Wellington. At best, it feels clumsy and not necessarily with a full understanding of the complexities of France's relationship with China,” Paskal told Al Jazeera.
Paskal said it was difficult to assess New Zealand's intentions as Wellington had at the time been working to improve relations with Beijing, while the Pacific Islands Forum has had little to say on issues involving the Solomon Islands and China.
“Frankly, I don't know what they're doing. The PIF was never close to making a statement like this, the only regional leader who made a statement about it was [President] David Panuelo of the Federated States of Micronesia, and did not receive much open support from across the region,” he said.
“New Zealand was trying to normalize relations with China and mobilize the PIF to say something. “It is not consistent with things that were publicly known about New Zealand's position at the time and the PIF's position still.”
