
Fiji’s Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka speaks to media during a joint press conference with New Zealand’s Prime Minister Chris Hipkins at Parliament in the Wellington on June 7, 2023. (Photo by Marty MELVILLE / AFP) Photo by MARTY MELVILLE/AFP via Getty Images
Pacific nations are trying to navigate a geopolitical environment dominated by “a China that is big, really big,” and which would “probably like to spread its influence” in the region, Fiji’s prime minister has told the Australian National Press Club.
He reiterated the official stance taken by members of the Pacific Island Forum (PIF), which is that the nations would be “friendly to all and enemies to none,” but acknowledged that it would be a “fairly tough course to steer.”