2023-04-24 20:00:32
In more than eighty years of Australian diplomatic representation in Nouméa, this is the first time that a minister from Camberra has addressed the New Caledonia congress. Penny Wong, the Australian Foreign Minister, one of the key figures in Anthony Albanese’s Labor government, spoke on Thursday, April 20, before Caledonian elected officials. A trip to strengthen ties of cooperation, a few days before the launch, Monday, April 24, of Operation “Southern Cross”, an exercise bringing together 3,000 soldiers and civilians of 19 nationalities to simulate a post-climate disaster humanitarian intervention . Quite a symbol in a context of intense diplomatic competition in the Pacific Islands.
In recent months, embassies and consulates have sprung up like mushrooms in the South Pacific island states to counter China’s growing influence in the region. However, diplomats are careful never to designate Beijing as the target of multiple military maneuvers or increased development aid. Kiribati, Tonga, Solomon Islands or even Vanuatu now have their US, French or Australian diplomatic representation, or even all three. Japan is not to be outdone and, for example, opened a consular office in Noumea at the start of the year.
With this trip to New Caledonia and the archipelago of Tuvalu on 20 and 21 April, the Australian minister completed her tour of the members of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), which brings together the independent states of the Pacific, as well as the New Caledonia and French Polynesia, which became full members in 2016. During a brief meeting with the press, Mme Wong took care to avoid questions that could anger France – with whom the Labor government has just renewed ties following the Australian submarine crisis – and in particular those relating to the Caledonian institutional future.
“Problem for French diplomacy”
Penny Wong indicated that this topic falls under the “competence of New Caledonia and of the State [français] and that no matter what, we will continue to share one region and one ocean”. A caution that contrasts with the report of the FIP ministerial committee on the third referendum on the independence of New Caledonia, in 2021, during which the no vote won with more than 96% of the votes. According to this report, the result could be interpreted “as representing a deep-seated ethnic divide in New Caledonia, which the committee fears has been exacerbated by the state’s refusal [français] to postpone the referendum.
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