INDO-FIJIAN RELATIONS GOOD DESPITE MILITARY COUP

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 NEW DELHI 001250 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT. FOR SCA AND EAP E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/12/2017 TAGS: PREL FJ IN PBTS PGOV PINR SUBJECT: INDO-FIJIAN RELATIONS GOOD DESPITE MILITARY COUP AND INTERNATIONAL CONDEMNATION REF: SUVA 150 Classified By: Political Counselor Ted Osius for Reasons 1.4 (B, D) ¶1. (C) Summary: Fiji's interim Foreign Affairs and External Trade Minister, Ratu Epeli Nailatikau, visited New Delhi March 3-4 (reftel). He met with both Ambika Soni, Indian Minister of Tourism and Culture, and Pranab Mukherjee, Minister of External Affairs, from whom Nailatikau reportedly received a "positive response" while requesting Indian assistance for democratic reforms and trade and economic cooperation. India hopes to keep relations with Fiji on the positive trajectory they have been on for two years, say Embassy contacts. A key politician with close ties to the Ministry of External Affairs and a sizable ethnic-Indian minority in Fiji have also given India reason not to criticize Fijian internal politics, as other nations have done. End Summary. ¶2. (C) Poloff spoke with Dr. Man Mohini Kaul, a professor of Southwest Pacific Relations at Jawaharlal Nehru University, on March 12. Kaul said that the situation was somewhat "confusing" for Indian intellectuals because India did not react harshly to Fiji's December 2006 military coup. She explained that, although top governmental positions have changed, much of the government has remained the same. Kaul noted that the "alienated" Indo-Fijian agrarian population, however, is now hopeful that century-old land-lease laws that limit ownership to ethnic-Fijians may be changed. Kaul expects this to be an issue that divides along ethnic lines, and predicts that the current interim government is not likely to address this matter. She added that India-Fijian relations have been moving in a positive direction for the last two years as part of India's "Look East Policy," and that Fiji did not take kindly to condemnations of the coup from several countries, including fourteen neighboring island nations, Australia, and New Zealand. ¶3. (C) Poloff also contacted Dr. Ganganath Jha of Jawaharlal Nehru University on March 12, who said that former Fijian Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry is the primary impetus for India and Fiji to remain on good terms. Chaudhry is an Indo-Fijian member of the "ruling clique" who has connections to India's ambassador to Fiji and others in the Indian Ministry of External Affairs. Jha believed that Chaudhry is capitalizing on Indian support from abroad to increase his influence as Finance Minister and Fiji Labor Party leader as well as solidify his base among Fiji's ethnic-Indian minority community. For its part, Jha said that India attaches "a great deal of importance" to its relationship with Fiji because India views the island nation, like Australia and New Zealand, as a means to "make its presence felt" in the South Pacific. NEW DELHI 00001250 002 OF 002 ¶4. (C) Comment: As Jha mentioned, Fiji may provide India a base from which to exert political and economic influence in the Pacific Ocean. Kaul said that she led a delegation to Fiji two years ago at the start of India-Fiji engagement. She noted that China had already sent multiple delegations to Fiji around the same time. India may now be trying to court Fiji as a partner nation in that region as its strategic view broadens and extends farther east. With its substantial ethic-Indian minority, Fiji may also engender a sense of pride among Indians. Chaudhry has received media attention and governmental audiences in previous visits to I.dia as Prime Minister of Fiji, and some in the MEA are no doubt heartened by the fact that Indo-Fijians' concerns are being partially ameliorated under the current regime. End Comment. PYATT