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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 SUVA 000053 
 
SIPDIS 
 
PASS TO EAP PDAS GLYN DAVIES AND EAP/ANP 
USPACOM FOR LTC JENNIFER HUGHES 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/10/2019 
TAGS: PREL PINR FJ XU XV PP NH CH
SUBJECT: PRELIMINARY PIF SECRETARIAT READOUT ON PT. MORESBY 
LEADERS MEETING 
 
REF: SUVA 0031 
 
SUVA 00000053  001.3 OF 002 
 
 
Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission Richard Pruett.  Reasons 1.5 (b) 
 and (d) 
 
 
SUMMARY 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Deputy Chief of Mission Richard Pruett met briefly 
on February 3 with Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Secretariat 
officials to seek their views on the January 27 PIF Special 
Forum Leaders Meeting in Port Moresby.  The Secretariat 
officials: confirmed that public pronouncements aside, the 
unity of the PIF remains shaky; hinted at a possible new 
initiative involving the Melanesian Spearhead Group, and; 
forecast that the PIF,s new chair, Canberra, will seek to 
expand the Forum,s agenda, looking past Fiji for the purpose 
of focusing on wider regional issues.  End summary. 
 
RAPID REACTION FORCE 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Meeting on February 3 with PIF Deputy Secretary 
General Peter Forau, Regional Security Advisor Matthew 
Leslie, and Political Issues Advisor Desna Solofa, DCM Pruett 
asked for their read-out on the Special Forum Leaders Meeting 
held in Port Moresby on January 27.  Forau opened by 
informing Pruett that the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) is 
planning to meet soon to discuss Fiji and a range of other 
issues, including trade and possible formation of a &rapid 
reaction force.8  When DCM Pruett asked for more information 
about the rapid reaction force, Forau replied that the 
 Secretariat had asked for but not yet received an explanation 
of the topic.  Forau suggested that the purpose of the force 
might be for MSG members to assist each other with an 
organized response in the event of an emergency. 
 
SKEPTICISM RE CONSISTENCY 
 
¶3.  (SBU) DCM Pruett noted that the outcome of the MSG 
meeting should be consistent with the outcome from the 
January 27 Port Moresby meeting.  Forau repeated the word 
 should, with a tone of skepticism.  He said that the 
statement by Vanuatu Prime Minister Edward Natapei on his 
return to Port Vila had tended to &undermine8 the position 
adopted by the PIF leaders at the end of their meeting. 
(Note:  The PIF leaders, communiqu called for Fiji to 
announce a timeframe for the return to democracy by May 1 and 
to hold elections by December or face targeted measures. 
Natapei said Vanuatu wanted the Forum to give Fiji more time 
to come up with a timeframe.) 
 
DEFINING SUSPENSION 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Leslie stated his frustration with journalists and 
others who claim that the PIF is weighing Fiji,s suspension 
from the PIF.  He noted that the PIF is not talking about the 
possibility of suspending Fiji,s membership but only its 
participation in various Forum meetings and events and 
regional assistance programs.  He mentioned that many of the 
leaders had wanted to strike any mention of suspension, but 
one had insisted on its retention.  (Note: PIF 
non-attribution rules prevented Leslie from identifying the 
lone hold-out, only referred to as a &minister.8) 
 
UNLIKELY TO MEET DEADLINES 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Leslie characterized the December date for 
elections as a &statement of frustration8 by the leaders of 
the neighboring countries toward Fiji,s leader Commodore 
Bainimarama for having excused himself from the PIF 
deliberations on Fiji for the second time in a row.  Leslie 
said many of the leaders had come to Port Moresby prepared to 
give Bainimarama a sympathetic hearing.  He said that 
everyone recognized that there was &some diversity8 within 
the group regarding the best ways for approaching the Fiji 
problem and that there was a &general consensus8 at the 
leaders meeting that Fiji was unlikely to be able to meet the 
 
SUVA 00000053  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
December deadline, especially in view of Bainimarama,s 
non-attendance.  The Forum had nonetheless adopted its 
communiqu in order to signal its seriousness, while leaving 
Fiji a &window of opportunity8 to mend its ways by showing 
genuine intent to return to democratic governance. 
 
PIF - NOT JUST ABOUT FIJI 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Forau was upbeat about Canberra,s assuming 
chairmanship of the PIF.  He said that the geniality of 
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd could help proceedings. 
He echoed the sentiments of New Zealand Prime Minister John 
Key that the PIF would have trouble pleasing everyone and 
agreed with Key that it was time for the Forum and the region 
to move on and tackle other issues.  Solofa added that while 
Fiji would again be a major issue at the next leaders meeting 
in Cairns, Canberra would not allow the issue of Fiji to 
dominate as it has in the past. 
 
CHINESE VISIT 
 
¶7.  (SBU) DCM Pruett asked the Secretariat its views 
regarding the scheduled February 8 arrival in Fiji of an 
80-person delegation of Chinese government officials and 
businesspeople led by Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping. 
Leslie said that the Secretariat would ask its Chinese 
dialogue partner how such a visit is consistent with its 
statements of support for the PIF. 
 
COMMENT 
 
¶8.  (C) While we should remain supportive of the efforts of 
the PIF to nudge Fiji toward elections, as per the strategy 
described reftel, it should be with the recognition that the 
PIF is far from monolithic as an organization.  The fragility 
of the PIF's self-trumpeted unity was underscored by the 
last-minute jockeying on dates before the leaders meeting and 
Natapei's comments soon after the meeting ended.  Bainimarama 
seems intent on playing to regional resentment of Australia 
and New Zealand in order to drive a deeper wedge between the 
PIF and the Melanesian Spearhead Group, although the snub he 
inflicted on Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Michael Somare 
by his no-show in Port Moresby underscored his own 
fundamental disrespect for, and lack of personal credibility 
with, regional leaders.  The continuing ambivalence of the 
Pacific island leaders toward the question of taking a firmer 
hand with Fiji has little to do with the appeal of 
Bainimarama or his policies and more to do with their desire 
to maintain the &Pacific Way8 of group consensus.  An even 
bigger driver remains the PIF members, unwillingness to 
commit organizational hara-kari by ousting from membership 
the country that hosts the organization,s headquarters and 
serves as the economic and transportation hub for this corner 
of the world.  Paramount for some of these countries (e.g. 
Kiribati and Tuvalu) are national interests that make it 
virtually impossible to follow through on the PIF,s threats 
of targeted measures because of their current dependence on 
Fiji.  The deadlines imposed on Fiji were as much for the 
purpose of binding them to action as they were to spur 
Bainimarama, and they are likely to fail on both counts. 
 
¶9.  (C) The notion that the Melanesian Spearhead Group, which 
is essentially a sub-regional trade treaty organization, 
would have the will or the wherewithal (without outside 
financial support) to form a rapid reaction force for the 
purpose of intervening in domestic emergencies in fraternal 
countries simply is not credible.  It is more likely an idea 
pushed by Fiji,s interim government in the hopes it might 
provide Fiji,s military forces with a palatable multilateral 
platform for expanded participation in international 
peacekeeping operations.  Embassy speculates that the Chinese 
visit--Xi,s only South Pacific stop on his way to a swing 
through Latin America--may be partly for the purpose of 
discussing military cooperation related to the MSG. 
MCGANN