Australia faces showdown with Pacific neighbours at summit
By Robert Hudson,WNS Canberra Correspondent
CANBERRA - Australian Prime Minister John Howard can expect a chilly reception from his Pacific Island neighbours despite the tropical surroundings at a regional summit in Fiji this week. Attempts to increase regional integration between Australia, New Zealand and 14 Pacific island members of the Pacific Island Forum are likely to be overshadowed by a crisis in relations between Australia and its neighbours Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. The atmosphere at the forum at a luxury resort near Fiji's tourism capital Nadi has been made more tense after renewed threats by outspoken Fijian military commander Voreqe Bainimarama to force Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase's government to step down. Australia's attempts since the end of last month to extradite newly appointed Solomons Attorney-General Julian Moti on child sex charges have been frustrated by both the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea in a bizarre chain of events.
Australia provides around 300 million Australian dollars (US$225 million) a year to Papua New Guinea and has spent around 800 million dollars in the Solomon Islands since it led an armed intervention in mid-2003 to end five years of civil strife. Howard is frustrated that despite the lavish aid, both countries are thumbing their nose at Canberra and he is going to Nadi with a blunt message. "If you want Australian aid, you've got to reduce corruption. If you want Australian aid, you've got to improve governance," Howard said last week. The relationship between Australia and the Solomon Islands soured after Solomons Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare expelled Canberra's ambassador last month for alleged meddling in local politics.
But New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark has defended Howard from charges of having a "colonialist" attitude to his Pacific island neighbours. "Australia has pretty firm views, as we do, about democracy and governance and so on, and in the Solomon Islands those views haven't been welcomed by the new administration. "So I do feel there's been quite a lot of maligning of Australia's intentions around that." The future of RAMSI, which was created under the forum and is widely recognised as having done a good job in restoring order in the Solomon Islands, is sure to be on the agenda during the forum Tuesday and Wednesday.
posted by wnsworld @ 2:40 PM
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