The National Federation Party leader Professor Biman Prasad has questioned the Fijian Government’s silence about the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s visit to Fiji this weekend.
In a statement, he said it had been reported the Chinese minister would attend the second China-Pacific Island Foreign Ministers Meeting.
Fiji’s prime minister is currently the chair of the Pacific Islands Forum.
Given these developments, Prof Prasad said this raised a lot of questions if Fiji is hosting this meeting here and why has Government chose to remain quiet about it.
Beijing’s engagement in the region in recent years, he said, had rapidly increased in the region including with its recent bilateral security agreement with Solomon Islands.
“Does Fiji intend to engage with China in the same way?
“Fiji, as chair of the Pacific forum, must be open and transparent about its role.
“In addition, the people of Fiji must be fully informed about any agreement that Fiji may be planning to sign with China.”
He said how we engaged with world powers such as China was a matter for all to discuss.
“China’s world view does not respect these values as has been seen in its recently exposed repressive behaviour in places such as Hong Kong. Our relationship with China therefore also says a lot about the things that we in Fiji consider important.”
It is understood, the Chinese Minister will visit Kiribati, Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea and East Timor.
He arrived in the Solomon Islands on Thursday night. Questions sent to Mr Bainimarama — who is the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum remained unanswered when this edition went to press According to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr Yi is originally from Beijing and held the role of Minister for Foreign Affairs since 2018.
He has been with the Communist Party of China since May 1981. He holds a Master of Economics and an undergraduate degree from the Department of Asian and African Languages of Beijing Second Foreign Languages Institute.
