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
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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
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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
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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
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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