British diplomatic re-engagement in the Pacific: more than just words?

ABSTRACT

The United Kingdom’s trade policy of ‘Commonwealth Preference’, long treasured by Australians and New Zealanders, was phased out half a century ago as Britain shied from the expense of remaining a world power, and sought the practical benefits of commercial integration in the European Economic Community. In the context of the 2016 referendum, leading Brexit supporters resurrected memories of Britain’s erstwhile trade with Commonwealth partners, disingenuously presented as an alternative to the country’s most profitable markets in Europe. This article examines the substance of the current Conservative government’s purported British re-engagement with the Commonwealth states of the Pacific, be it Australia and New Zealand or small Pacific Island states, in fields including trade, aid, strategic relations and diplomacy more broadly.

KEYWORDS:

• Brexit
• Oceania
• Pacific
• trade
• United Kingdom

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Rodd, ‘L’entrée du Royaume-Uni dans la CEE’, 165.

2. Seeley, The Expansion of England, 8.

3. Henningham, The Pacific Island States, 100.

4. Bingham, “Australia’s trade,” 8.

5. Watters, “Culture and society,” 2.

6. For more on this, see Belich, Paradise Reforged.

7. Robertson and Singleton, “The Old Commonwealth and Britain’s First Application to Join the EEC,” 153.

8. Mein Smith, A Concise History of New Zealand, 200.

9. Jones, “Race: The way ahead”.

10. Belich, Paradise Reforged, 431.

11. Pocock, The Discovery of Islands, 264.

12. Radio New Zealand, “Britain to close three Pacific missions”.

13. France has always been a member of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community, the oldest and foremost cooperation forum for the sustainable development of the Pacific Islands. The organisation’s 26 members include 24 Pacific countries and territories, including Australia and New Zealand but also France’s three Pacific overseas territories in their own right, plus France and the United States. The United Kingdom left in 2004 (after having allowed its membership to lapse for two years due to sheer lack of interest in the mid-1990s) and only re-joined in 2021. France is also a member of the FRANZ agreement, whereby it works closely with Australia and New Zealand to respond to natural disasters in the Pacific Islands. Since the start of this century, France has held five multilateral summits with the leaders of (anglophone) Pacific Island countries, with a fifth one provisionally due this year, mainly to discuss cooperation on climate change. France retains sovereignty over three Pacific territories (New Caledonia, French Polynesia and Wallis and Futuna), valuable not only for New Caledonia’s mineral resources but also for their vast maritime areas—giving France the largest maritime exclusive economic zone in the world, 63% of which is in the South Pacific. Australia and France share an interest in preventing China from increasing its influence in the area, viewing it as destabilising and potentially hostile, and Canberra and Paris had been heightening their strategic and military cooperation in recent years, prior to the diplomatic crisis of the AUKUS agreement in 2021. Since 2019, France has also held joint naval military exercises in the region with Australia, the United States and Japan. While the United Kingdom is now showing a budding, uncommitted interest in these various forms of Pacific cooperation, it is very much a latecomer by comparison.

14. Whitlam, “Speech by the Prime Minister”.

15. For more on this, see Imbun, “Look North Policy”; and Tarte, ‘Fiji’s look north strategy and the role of China’.

16. Fiji was also fully suspended from the Commonwealth in 2009. The decision was taken in London at a meeting of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group, of which the United Kingdom at that time was one of the nine members, but New Zealand (also a member) was far more invested in pressuring Fiji than Britain was. So unaware had the British government been of the issue that Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s team in 2008 had agreed for his face to feature large on tourism advertisement placards for the Fiji Visitors Bureau; Elliott and Larter, ‘Come to the dictatorship of Fiji’.

17. Fox, “Tonga to start paying back controversial Chinese loans”.

18. Birtles, Dziedzic and Wasuka, “China and Solomon Islands sign security pact”.

19. Pike, “China’s pact”.

20. Quoted in Ruwitch, ‘Leaked draft’.

21. French Embassy to Fiji, ‘La zone indopacifique’.

22. World Bank, “Australia Trade”.

23. Even despite their as-yet-unratified 2021 Free Trade Agreement.

24. Ensor and Macdonald, ‘UK says New Zealand top priority’.

25. Jancic, “What Brexit will mean for New Zealand”.

26. Foreign and Commonwealth Office, “Foreign Secretary expands UK Commonwealth diplomatic network”.

27. Newton-Cain and Powles, ‘A Pivotal Moment?’.

28. For more on this, see Thayer, “After Brexit”; and Zhang, “The Empire Strikes Back”.

29. Auslin, ‘Britain is right to send its navy to the South China Sea’.

30. Bland, “UK’s Indo-Pacific tilt”.

31. Wintour, “Why Britain”.

32. Gardner, “China warns UK”.

33. Kosaka and Hadano, “UK projects power in East Asia”.

34. Michito, ‘Britannia’.

35. Maclellan, “Global Britain’s frayed edges”.

36. As revealed by their websites, the United Kingdom and New Zealand High Commissions still shared the same address in May 2022.

37. Foreign and Commonwealth Office, “Ministerial role”.

38. Foreign and Commonwealth Office, “Foreign Office Minister’s visit to Fiji”.

39. Ibid.

40. Clarke, “UK-Pacific partnerships”.

41. Wheeler, “Pacific Island Forum Partners’ Dialogue in Tuvalu”.

42. Wilton Park, “Navigating Pacific futures”.

43. Fiji’s Attorney-General and de facto Deputy Prime Minister Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum described it as ‘an immense disappointment’; Prakash, ‘COP26’..

44. World Bank, “United Kingdom Exports”.

45. Ward, “Statistics on UK trade with the Commonwealth,” 12–13.

46. Dayant, “Brexit and the Pacific”.

47. International Monetary Fund, ‘Fiji, Rep. of’.

48. Department for International Trade, “Continuing the United Kingdom’s trade relationship,” 14.

49. World Bank, “Samoa Exports”.

50. Nataro, “U.K. says Brexit won’t affect trade with Pacific”.

51. Department for International Trade, “Guidance: Trade with the Pacific States”.

52. Ibid.

53. Radio New Zealand, “Fiji sugar price surge assured despite Brexit uncertainty”.

54. Morgan, “Ending or Evolving”.

55. Radio New Zealand, “Geopolitical analyst looks at UK’s move towards the Pacific”.

56. Newton-Cain and Powles, “A Pivotal Moment?”.

57. Radio New Zealand, “UK to open diplomatic posts in Vanuatu”.

58. Paskal, “Britain’s new Pacific presence”.

59. Clarke, “UK-Pacific partnerships”.

60. Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, ‘Germany’.

61. Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australia, ‘Australia-European Union Free Trade Agreement’.

62. Parliament of Australia, “Inquiry into Australia’s trade,” 126.

63. Murray and Matera, “Brexit and Australia”.

64. Abbott, “The United Kingdom’s Economic Relations,” 23.

65. Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, New Zealand, “New Zealand-United Kingdom Free Trade Agreement”’.

66. Forgrave, “’Please don’t swamp Britain with New Zealand lamb’”.

67. Grozoubinski, “Australia-UK trade agreement”.

68. Murray and Matera, “Brexit and Australia”.

69. Gibb, “Brexit complication”.

70. Davies, ‘Australia demands compensation’.

71. Gross, “Free trade agreement”.

72. Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, “Australia-United Kingdom”.

73. Tehan and Morrison, “New era of free trade”. Webb, “Research Briefing”.

74. Ibid.

75. National Farmers’ Union, “First post-Brexit deal”.

76. Fildes, “UK-Australia free trade deal”.

77. Dziedzic, “Australia signs UK free trade deal”.

78. National Farmers’ Union, “First post-Brexit deal”.

79. World Wildlife Fund, ‘The #UKAusFTA’.

80. Webb, “Research Briefing”.

81. Inman, “Truss’s naivety”.

82. Webb, “Research Briefing”.

83. Webb and Ward, “Research Briefing”.

84. Quoted in Coughland, “New Zealand and UK”.

85. Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, New Zealand, “New Zealand-United Kingdom Free Trade Agreement: Overview”.

86. Kelsey, “Behind the ‘inclusive’ window”.

87. Grozoubinski, “Australia-UK trade agreement”.

88. Ibid.

89. Maclellan, “Global Britain’s frayed edges”.

90. Shanahan, “CHOGM”.

91. Maclellan, “Global Britain’s frayed edges”.

92. Bourke, “Alexander Downer savages Britain’s policy on China”.

93. Martin, ‘UK privately appeals to senior Australian ministers’.

94. Gillespie, “A great disappointment”.

95. Peters, “New Zealand to build on its strong relationship with the UK”.

96. Newton-Cain and Powles, “A Pivotal Moment?”.

97. Ministère des Armées, “France and Security in the Indo-Pacific”.

98. Bhaumik, “France joins India”.

99. Policy Exchange, “A Very British Tilt,” 9–14.

100. Philp, “Asian NATO”.

101. Ibid., 22.

102. Dayant, “Brexit and the Pacific”.

103. Wyeth, “For Balance, Australia Aims to Draw the UK Back”.

104. Paskal, “Britain’s new Pacific presence”.

105. Paskal, “New Diplomatic Posts”.

106. Dayant, “Brexit and the Pacific”.

107. Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, ‘Statistics on International Development’.

108. Dayant, ‘Brexit and the Pacific’.

109. Ibid.