WELLINGTON:Influential Pacific island leaders have called for Australia to be ousted fromthe region's main regional grouping, criticizing Canberra's"neo-colonial" attitudes and refusal to take urgent action on climatechange. It comes after Australia was accused of muzzling leaders who wanted touse last week's Pacific Islands Forum in Tuvalu to issue a global call foraction on climate change ahead of UN-sponsored talks in New York next month.
Australia'sDeputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack then added further insult when hedismissed the islanders' concerns and said they could "come here and pickour fruit" to survive. Tuvalu Prime Minister Enele Sopoaga labelledMcCormack's comments "abusive and offensive", challenging Australia'sright to a place in the 18-member Pacific Islands Forum. "The spirit ofthe Pacific way is not understood by these guys, I don't think they understandanything about (it)," he told Radio New Zealand. "And if that's thecase, what is the point of these guys remaining in the Pacific Island Leaders'Forum? I don't see any merit in that."
Sopoaga's viewsechoed those of Fiji's Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama, who over the weekenddescribed his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison as "veryinsulting" and said China offered a more welcoming brand of diplomacy.Australia has a complex relationship with its Pacific island neighbours, whoreceive about Aus$1.4 billion ($950 million) a year in aid from Canberra. Despitethe generous handouts, Pacific islanders often bristle at Australian attitudesto a region that officials in Canberra refer to as "our backyard".
'Difficultconversations'
Sopoaga said thePacific Islands Forum row on climate change reminded him of regional meetingsdecades ago, when "colonial masters" set the agenda. "We arestill seeing reflections and manifestations of this neo-colonialist approach towhat the leaders are talking about," he told RNZ. Canberra, alarmed at Beijing'sdiplomatic inroads into the region, last year launched a charm offensivelabelled "the Pacific Step-up", aimed at bringing the islands closerand forestalling any chance of a Chinese military base in the region.
But the divisionsover climate change exposed at the summit have proved deeper than expected,driving a wedge between Australia and the islands. Pacific leaders view globalwarming as an existential threat to low-lying nations requiring immediateaction, including a rapid transition away from coal, to save their homes.
Australia's PrimeMinister Scott Morrison concedes climate change is real but insists it can bemanaged in a way that does not hurt the economy, including the lucrative coalindustry. Former Kiribati president Anote Tong, a long-time climate campaigner,said China now appeared a better partner in the Pacific because Australia'spriority appeared to be preserving its coal industry, not helping to stopglobal warming.
"It's reallyabout the lesser of two evils, I guess, and at the moment Australia is comingup as the worst of the two evils," he told the Australian BroadcastingCorporation. "There's got to be a more respectful way of understandingeach other. It cannot be dictated by the coal industry in the background."Tong called for Australia to be suspended from the PIF or sanctioned over itsclimate stance.
Morrisonacknowledged there had been "difficult conversations" with Pacificleaders but likened them to a family spat, denying there was any long-termdamage to relations. "Just like any family that comes around the table wediscuss all these things through... we've always been there. We will always be there," he toldreporters over the weekend. - AFP