American Samoa's member of the United States Congress, Faleomavaega Eni Hunkin, says suspending Fiji from the Pacific Islands Forum will not solve anything.
Faleomavaega says it will simply add to the country's political and economic woes.
He says New Zealand and Australia have been too punitive and should have been taking a more constructive approach such as maintaining a dialogue with Commodore Frank Bainimarama's regime.
"I'm no more supporter of a military takeover but the fact that Fiji has a history of three military coups and a civilian takeover with three constitutions, that should tell anybody that they have very serious problems that you cannot just simply dismiss by saying 'let's have an election'. That's not going to solve the problem."
Faleomavaega Eni Hunkin