# AN ACT OF CONTEMPT FOR FIJIAN SOVEREIGNTY (UPDATED)

Grubsheet has returned from holiday and is catching up on events while we were away. And one of the stories that struck us most was the Chinese Ambassador’s gross lack of respect for the Prime Minister, Sitiveni Rabuka, when they shared a platform together and the Ambassador used the occasion to address the recent Australian media reports citing western intelligence on China’s activities in Fiji and the activities of the Suva businessman, Zhao Fugang.

The Ambassador, Zhou Jian, knows that the Prime Minister appeared in the Nine Newspapers and 60 Minutes stories and expressed concern about the reports, and especially whether China might somehow be supporting organised criminals behind a surge in large-scale drug trafficking using Fiji as a transit point into the Australian market. “I do not want to…open the door to someone that could turn out to be not a friend”, he said.

This was a national leader expressing his legitimate concern that Australian intelligence agencies have designated Zhao Fugang an “Australian Priority Organisation Target” – the highest level of security scrutiny – and among other things, responding to Zhao Fugang’s admission to reporter Nick McKenzie that he worked for the Chinese Communist Party. Sitiveni Rabuka had every right to express those concerns. As did the Home Affairs Minister, Pio Tikoduadua, when he confirmed that Australian Intelligence had conveyed information to Fiji about Zhao Fugang.

If the Chinese Ambassador had a problem with any of this, he, of course, has the right to say so. And the Chinese have done so through multiple public denials, including making a special English-language video for local consumption. They undoubtedly also made voluble representations of protest through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. But it was the height of discourtesy for the Ambassador to use a speech with the Prime Minister present to indirectly pour scorn on his concerns – to describe the western intelligence reports as “baseless bullying” and suggest that the PM had been party to “microphone diplomacy or microphone coercion”.

Fiji has the right to receive intelligence from the “Five Eyes” security grouping – the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand – and make up its own mind about the appropriate way to deal with that information. It is a matter of basic sovereignty. And for the Fijian leader to be lectured like some recalcitrant schoolboy at a public function by a here today, gone tomorrow Chinese diplomat is way out of line.

The Chinese have been allowed to buy their way into media favour in Fiji by purchasing space in the Fiji Sun and by training Fijian journalists in China. Having ignored the Nine allegations in the first place, the national broadcaster, FBC, has joined the Fiji Sun in reporting the story only when the Chinese “refute” it – ie. prove it is wrong – when they have done nothing of the sort. These media outlets are unwittingly supporting the Chinese in undermining Fijian sovereignty by peddling the Chinese line and completely ignoring the concerns of the Fijian government. Those concerns are based on the global reach of the “Five Eyes” and their unparalleled ability – through organisations like the CIA, MI6 and ASIS – to know what is actually going on in the world beyond Beijing’s spin.

There is a basic flaw in the calls by the Chinese Ambassador and Pio Tikoduadua for Fijians who may have evidence about these alleged activities to come forward. We already know that China targets its critics with cyberattacks and in some instances, physical intimidation by Chinese agents. If Zhao Fugang really is a kingpin in the regional drug trade as well as an unofficial agent of influence for the Chinese Communist Party, what person in their right mind would come forward with information about him? And especially when we know that he has close links with the Fiji Police.

There is a constant underlying atmosphere of apprehension, sometimes fear, when it comes to dealing with the Chinese at almost every level, including at the top in Fiji. So let’s not pretend it is “friendship”. China is an unelected dictatorship bent on world domination that is exerting its influence in every corner of the globe, including Fiji and its neighbours. Sitiveni Rabuka knows it. Pio Tikoduadua knows it.

But it is a sign of just how entitled the Chinese have become that their Ambassador believes that he can lecture the Fijian Prime Minister to his face at a public function and warn him – albeit indirectly – not to believe the intelligence he is being given by Australia and the other democracies about a dangerous threat to Fiji’s national interest.

It was an unfriendly act, an assault on Fijian sovereignty and it is unacceptable.

UPDATE MONDAY APRIL 8: The Fiji Times also belatedly reports the Chinese Ambassador urging Fijians to go to the police with any information about its citizens allegedly “involved in illicit activities”. It’s a reference to Zhao Fugang but Fiji’s supposed newspaper of record since 1869 just can’t bring itself to say so.

Why would Fred Wesley and his team assume that any Fijian with information about Zhao Fugang would go to the police when we know that he has actually been invited to police intelligence meetings? What does Fred think happens to anyone who crosses Chinese organised crime? Free tickets to the Sevens?

Hopeless.

Extracts from the Sydney Morning Herald/Age report: