Fiji launches white paper on foreign policy

The Fiji government has released the blueprint for the country to deal with "complex foreign policy challenges" in the next decade.

The document "explains how Fiji sees itself" and how it would like to "present itself" to the global community, Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka said while launching the first Foreign Policy White Paper on Monday.

"It outlines the government's foreign policy initiatives, especially the promotion of the Ocean of Peace, which is the single most significant contribution that Fiji can make to peace and security in our neighbourhood and the broader Indo Pacific region," he said.

Rabuka said the white paper reaffirmed the central position of the Pacific region and "makes clear that in all we do in foreign policy, we will put the Pacific family first".

The foreign policy white paper is designed in parallel to nation's development plan launched last week and the proposed national security and defence review.

"This is a headline document. It is not a checklist of all we are doing in our foreign policy, nor is it a catalogue of all our bilateral and multilateral relationships and activities.

"Instead, it sets out the underlying principles of Fiji's foreign policy, our overarching objectives, our broad priorities, and the way in which domestic and foreign policy are closely intertwined.

"It is a narrative of where we wish to go to and how to get there," he said.

The document has eight chapters focusing on; sovereignty, identity and values; security; transnational security; climate change; bilateral relationships including major powers; prosperity; foreign policy and development assistance; and implement foreign policy.

China-US competition: 'The stakes are high'

Rabuka said there is a lot of geopolitical competition that is going on.

He said Fiji's sovereignty, security and prosperity were the traditional pillars of foreign policy, "but the context in which we must pursue them has profoundly changed".

"We are in the middle of what is likely to be a long transition from the US led liberal international order to a more multipolar world.

The old liberal international order in which Fiji was a beneficiary and which saw the unprecedented level of global cooperation and economic interdependence is now slowly diminishing in its place, he said.

"In its place is a complicated competition for primacy between the United States and China played out more sharply in our Indo-Pacific region.

"At its most basic, China aspires to become the predominant power in the region and the US is also determined to hold on to its pre-eminence.

"How this competition will play out is an open question. The stakes are high. There are significant risks of miscalculation."