CHINESE AID TO FIJI - NOTHING NEW IN THE PIPELINE;

C O N F I D E N T I A L SUVA 000030 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/12/2017 TAGS: PREL EAID MARR FJ TW CH SUBJECT: CHINESE AID TO FIJI - NOTHING NEW IN THE PIPELINE; PREVIOUS PROMISES UNFULFILLED REF: A. SUVA 15 ¶B. 06 SUVA 156 ¶C. 06 SUVA 582 Classified By: Ambassador Dinger, per 1.5 (D) and (E) Summary -------------- ¶1. (C) PRC Embassy officials in Fiji downplay Commander Bainimarama's comments that Fiji can count on China for military and other assistance. China has not received any new requests for assistance since the coup and has made almost no progress in implementing the projects promised during Premier Wen's visit to Fiji last April. No New Chinese Assistance in the Pipeline -------------- ¶2. (C) PRC Embassy DCM Fei Mingxing told us January 12 that although Commander Bainimarama has made a number of comments referring to new assistance from China (Ref A),no representatives from either the interim government or the RFMF have made approaches to the PRC Embassy to date. Given the Commander's rhetoric, the Embassy expects to receive some requests in the near future. It would be hard, however, to see how China could commit to any new assistance, said Fei, given the failure of China and Fiji to move forward on most of the aid initiatives announced during Premier Wen Jiabao's visit to Fiji in April, 2006. China Aid to Fiji - A Dismal Scorecard -------------- ¶3. (C) As detailed Ref B, China committed during Wen's visit to provide USD 375 million in preferential loans to Pacific countries over a three year period, as well as to cancel debts from underdeveloped countries in the region. In addition, Fiji and China signed an MOU outlining the following bilateral aid or commercial initiatives: --A quarantine technical assistance program, including an exchange of experts; --A $20 million soft loan to be used for an "e-government" program in Fiji; --Chinese development of Taveuni Island's first hydro-electric power plant; --A new ports agreement; --Sale of telecom hardware to Fiji Telecom; and --Sale of aircraft to Air Fiji ¶4. (C) Of all the initiatives noted above only the sale of some telecommunications equipment has gone forward, said Fei, noting that was a purely commercial transaction. China and Fiji have made no progress in arranging any preferential loans from the USD 375 million pot. Fiji does not qualify for the debt cancellation program. The quarantine program hasn't gotten off the ground, nor have talks on the "e-government" soft loan, the power plant, the ports agreement, or the sale of aircraft. All of these initiatives presuppose two governments working together to reach consensus on priorities and iron out details. But after the Wen visit, Fei continued, the Qarase government was totally preoccupied, first with elections, then with the threat of a military coup. Since the coup, he said, the Embassy has had no direct contact with the RFMF. The PRC Embassy worked with Fiji's MFA to ensure the interim government reiterated Fiji's "One China" Policy (Refs A and C),but Fei insisted there were no strings attached. Comment -------------- ¶5. (C) There is almost no doubt Bainimarama will ask for China's help. While China is sure to be polite and may reiterate its previous offers of assistance, the message we have received from the Chinese Embassy is that Fiji should not expect any significant new Chinese initiatives anytime soon. DINGER