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RUEHPB/AMEMBASSY PORT MORESBY 1364
RUEHWL/AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON 1563
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RUEHDN/AMCONSUL SYDNEY 0927
RHHJJAA/JICPAC HONOLULU HI

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 SUVA 000435 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/04/2017 
TAGS: PREL CVIS PGOV MARR TN
SUBJECT: TONGA PLAYS "IRAQ" CARD RE VISA ISSUE: ACTION 
REQUEST 
 
REF: A. SUVA 349 (AND PREVIOUS) 
     ¶B. USDAO SUVA 131933Z AUG 07 
 
Classified By: Amb. Dinger.  Sec. 1.4 (B,D). 
 
Summary 
------- 
¶1. (C) The Tonga Government has reiterated, by dipnote, its 
intense desire for the USG to find a way to provide visa 
services in Tonga, rather than in Suva.  The dipnote says, 
absent progress on the visa issue, "the Tonga Government will 
not be disposed to assisting the United States in the 
military or other fields."  Tonga Defense Service (TDS) 
troops are about to enter Iraq on a second six-month 
deployment, with plans for yet another six-month deployment 
to follow.  It is not clear if the King and TDS Commander, 
who have driven the deployments, cleared on the dipnote's 
threat.  We have explained U.S. visa constraints repeatedly 
to Tonga leaders.  They respond that surely the superpower 
can find a visa solution for Tonga.  Tonga's Foreign 
Secretary will visit Suva next week to discuss the issue 
 
SIPDIS 
again.  We request any new ideas that we might offer to 
address the visa issue and help reward Tonga for its PKO 
efforts.  High-level visitors to Tonga in the coming weeks 
will need ammunition on the visa issue, as well.  End summary. 
 
Tonga threatens mil/mil relations over visa issue 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
¶2. (U) Embassy Suva received on Sept. 6 Tonga Ministry of 
Foreign Affairs dipnote F.2/36/3 dated 5 Sept. 07.  The 
substantive text reads: 
 
...the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Va'inga Tone, would 
like to call on H.E. Mr. Larry Dinger on Tuesday 11 September 
2007 at the Embassy.  Arrangement is now being made for the 
Secretary to travel to Suva on 10 September 2007 and return 
 
SIPDIS 
on 12 or by 14 September 2007. 
 
The purpose of the Secretary's visit is to personally bring 
up to the attention of the Ambassador, yet again, the 
priority and urgency with which the Tongan Government views 
the exorbitant costs that Tongans have to pay to travel to 
Fiji to apply for their U.S. visa.  It may be recalled that, 
for close to ten years now, this matter has been raised 
numerous times by the Tonga Permanent Representative to the 
United Nations in New York and by the Ministry in Nuku'alofa. 
 Sadly, however, no progress has been attained as yet.  With 
Tonga's assistance to the United States in Iraq, it is not 
unrealistic for Tonga to ask for a quid pro quo from the 
United States in terms of arriving at an easier and cost 
effective way for Tongans who wish to apply for a U.S. visa. 
The Tonga Government will not otherwise be disposed to 
assisting the United States in the military and other fields. 
 The Hon. Minister for Foreign Affairs conveyed this in 
strong terms to the Ambassador in a recent visit to Tonga; 
and the Commander of the Tonga Defense Services has done 
likewise to the U.S. Defense Attache.  The United States must 
seriously address the issue of visa application by Tongan 
nationals, either through the establishment of a consulate in 
Tonga in reciprocity to Tonga's consulate general in San 
Francisco (not to mention Tonga's Embassy in New York); or by 
more regular visits by the U.S. Consul to Tonga; or some 
other mutually acceptable arrangements. 
 
The Ministry kindly requests the assistance of the Embassy in 
conveying the foregoing to the Ambassador and for seeking his 
kind concurrence towards the Secretary's request to call on 
him at a time convenient on 11 September 2007.  The Ministry 
kindly thanks the Embassy for the assistance granted... 
 
Wishes and current realities 
---------------------------- 
¶3. (C) As related reftels, PM Sevele, Foreign/Defense 
Minister Tu'a, and Tonga Defense Service (TDS) Commander 
Uta'atu have made clear their frustration that the USG 
requires Tonga citizens to travel to Suva for visa 
adjudications.  The round-trip airfare for such a trip is 
currently US$513, and inevitably many applicants do not 
qualify for visas.  We have repeatedly conveyed sympathy for 
the inconvenience, as we have explained the requirements of 
U.S. law and regulation, which currently require visa 
applicants to visit a U.S. embassy or consulate for 
electronic fingerprinting at the same time as the visa 
interview.  Tonga leaders have proposed pre-screening in 
Tonga to weed out poor cases, or having more frequent 
 
SUVA 00000435  002 OF 003 
 
 
consular visits, or opening a consular agency or a consulate 
or an embassy.  We have explained that U.S. regulations do 
not allow pre-screening; the electronic fingerprint machine 
is not portable (yet), so more frequent consular visits will 
not solve the visa-adjudication problem; a consular agency 
could not do visas; and to date, the USG has calculated that 
an embassy or consulate in Tonga is not financially feasible. 
 
 
New technology? 
--------------- 
¶4. (C) The one possibility we have mentioned, after 
consultation with CA, is that experiments are taking place to 
make electronic fingerprinting portable.  If that technology 
could be made available to Embassy Suva along with necessary 
additional resources (human and budgetary), the USG could 
experiment with having a consular officer visit Tonga 
periodically, perhaps one week a month, to do visa 
adjudications.  Many details of such a process remain 
unclear; there would be resource implications; and the last 
we heard CA was discouraging the thought that the portable 
fingerprint technology might become available for Suva. 
Note: while portable fingerprinting could allow visa 
adjudication in Tonga, the problem of "bad cases" would 
remain.  In fact, we presume the visa refusal rate would 
increase as people who cannot afford the airfare for a roll 
of the dice in Suva would take the gamble at home. 
 
Playing the Iraq quid pro quo 
----------------------------- 
¶5. (C) As expected, Tonga leaders have not appreciated the 
USG's inability to respond positively.  With Tonga's 
difficult political decision this year to deploy TDS troops 
for a second time to the Coalition of the Willing in Iraq, 
Tonga leaders have taken a new approach.  They have argued 
with emotion that, at a time when others are withdrawing from 
Iraq, Tonga is stepping up, reconfirming its commitment to 
international peacekeeping.  In return, in the Tonga view, 
the technically proficient U.S. superpower surely can find a 
way to adjudicate visas in Tonga.  The new dipnote adds a 
threat: absent resolution of the visa issue, "the Tonga 
Government will not otherwise be disposed to assisting the 
United States in the military and other fields." 
 
Internal Tonga dynamics? 
------------------------ 
¶6. (C) Sevele was very unenthusiastic about the TDS 
re-deployment to Iraq, but the King and BG Uta'atu pressed 
the issue and engineered a commitment to two new six-month 
deployments.  TDS troops are currently in Kuwait preparing 
for the first one.  We do not know yet if the new dipnote 
received clearance from the Palace or from the TDS, but the 
wording would seem to put back into doubt the second 
six-month deployment.  While it is possible, maybe even 
likely, that the King and the General can keep the second 
deployment on track, there is no doubt that the civilian 
political leadership intends to utilize "Iraq" to the extent 
possible to leverage a fresh USG look at, and they hope a 
significant revision of, visa policy toward Tonga. 
 
Comment 
------- 
¶7. (C) Embassy Suva provides excellent visa services within 
our geographic constraint.  However, there is no doubt the 
current requirement for Tongans to travel to Suva at 
considerable expense creates intense frustration in the 
Tongan public, and with Tongan politicians.  Thus, visa 
policy is an impediment to U.S.-Tongan relations, at a point 
when Tonga is putting its troops on the line in Iraq.  We 
would welcome new ideas for overcoming the problem.  We 
thought the portable fingerprint option could work, but now 
hear not to get our hopes up.  We are sketching a proposal to 
create a consular agency in Tonga.  That would not resolve 
the visa problem; but it would add more visibility to our 
ongoing Peace Corps presence in Tonga, and such an agency 
might eventually house mobile visa processing if/when 
technology and resources permit.  We are open to other ideas. 
 
Action request: any new talking points? 
--------------------------------------- 
¶8. (C) The Ambassador spoke with Foreign Secretary Tone today 
(9/6), and they agreed to meet in Suva on Thurs, 9/13.  Tone 
acknowledged that the conversation will be a repeat, but he 
clearly has instructions to raise Tonga's complaint yet again 
and to receive a USG response.  Please advise what new we can 
 
SUVA 00000435  003 OF 003 
 
 
say, if anything.  We note that high-level military and 
civilian USG visitors are expected to travel to Tonga in the 
next few weeks.  They will need to be ready with talking 
points. 
DINGER