There was a time when South Block saw red when the name Sitiveni Rabuka came up: in 1987 he as Fiji’s army chief, carried out a coup against the elected government of Timoci Bavadra, and triggered a massive exodus of ethnic Indians from the South Pacific island.
It brought down the ethnic Indian population steeply, to around today’s 37%, perhaps the first instance of ethnic cleansing (but that phrase got renown only a decade later, in Kosovo).
On Monday, India will roll out the red carpet for the same Sitiveni Rabuka, now a duly elected prime minister of Fiji, who while he still champions the unity of ethnic Fijians, has publicly apologised for the coup and the exodus of Indians.
Rabuka arrived in Delhi on Sunday on a four-day visit, his first to this country. But India’s outreach to Fiji goes back to 2014 when Prime Minister Modi travelled there, symbolically shutting the door on a turbulent and tragic past.
“Fiji represents one corner of our Act East policy,” government sources told StratNewsGlobal, “it’s geopolitical location in the South Pacific straddling vital sea lanes, makes it a key node in India’s vision of a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific.”
The broadening of the Act East policy to include the Indo-Pacific has been driven by Modi and Fiji comprising more than 300 islands, is seen as an influential regional leader and power broker. It is in fact India’s largest partner in the pacific.
“Prime Minister Rabuka has opposed Chinese bases in the region, which is important for India and its strategic partners given Chinese facilities on the Solomon Islands,” Vinod Kumar, former Indian high commissioner to Fiji told StratNewsGlobal.
“Rabuka said some time ago in Australia that he will try and persuade other countries in the region to not allow such facilities. Of course each country will make its own decision on that but he did say he would try to persuade them.”
Geopolitically these islands have become important given the competition between major powers. India can cooperate with its Quad partners, and potentially France, on Fiji as has been done in the past particularly with regard to capacity building and include other areas of trilateral cooperation, Ambassador Kumar noted.
“India is also in a good position to leverage its influence, enhance its presence and remain engaged thanks to our cooperation in various fora and the large diaspora,” he said, underscoring that Fiji’s deputy prime minister is of Indian origin.
India remains a valued development partner of Fiji not only bilaterally, but also through the Forum for India Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC). It is now the cornerstone of India’s engagement with the 14 Pacific island states. Fiji in fact hosted the inaugural summit in Suva, its capital.
FIPIC focuses on key priorities such as climate change adaptation and disaster resilience, renewable energy, healthcare including a 100-bed hospital in Suva, IT, digital connectivity, capacity building and so on.
Thirty eight years in journalism, widely travelled, history buff with a preference for Old Monk Rum. Current interest/focus spans China, Technology and Trade. Recent reads: Steven Colls Directorate S and Alexander Frater's Chasing the Monsoon. Netflix/Prime video junkie. Loves animal videos on Facebook. Reluctant tweeter.
