 |
| Attendees to Pacific Defence Ministers meeting in Tonga (Image: Matangi Tonga) |
On May 1
st 2013, Defence
Minister's of Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and
representatives from US, UK, France and Chile met for a
regional Defence summit in Tonga, a tiny monarchy in the South Pacific.
This inaugural meeting in Nukualofa, discussed aspects of defence and security issues, including
maritime security, peacekeeping and disaster relief in the region.
Some bilateral meetings were also
conducted between the attendees. One notable agreement of particular
interest, which eventually panned out, is the Defence Agreement,
signed by Tonga's Prime Minister, Lord Tui'vakano and New Zealand's
Defence Minister, Dr Jonathan Coleman.
The Tonga-NZ Visiting Forces
Agreement gave clearance on a temporary basis, for the New Zealand
Defence Force to stay in Tonga and increase joint operations. Among
the objectives, was to improve inter-operability links with the Tonga
Defence Service.
 |
| French Ambassador to Tonga- arriving in Nukualofa (Image: Matangi Tonga) |
|
|
|
|
Australia Defence Secretary, Steven
Smith confirmed
some assistance to Tonga Defence Services (TDS) in
the form of military equipment and support, amid
the looming shadow of
budgetary constraints in the Australian
Treasury:
“Australia would support the
reinvigoration of Tonga’s dedicated sealift capability through the
provision of a new Landing Craft. This Landing Craft will enable
Tonga to transfer stores, people, and equipment to its outer
islands, and will be essential in helping the TDS provide rapid
relief in the event of natural disasters. [...]refurbishment of
the TDS Naval Base at Masefield, and the reconstruction of TDS
Headquarters facilities on the islands of Ha’apai and Vava’u
[...]comprehensive support to Tonga’s maritime security through the
Pacific Patrol Boat Program. Tongan Navy’s three patrol boats will
receive ongoing advisory, training, maintenance, and operational
support[…] Australia will maintain its extensive program of
training and education support, including through continued officer
training at the Australian Defence College and Australian Defence
Force Academy, scholarships, single-service courses, and joint
training.”
This military assistance and the
Defence agreement between Australia, New Zealand, nascent member of
NATO global partnership (PDF) and Tonga, a contributor to the
(ISAF)International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, only
underscores what many observers of NATO had long foreshadowed.
Richard Longworth opinion piece
“Beyond NATO” in the
American Review magazine highlighted
the new global security frameworks:
“Ever since the Cold War ended 20
years ago, NATO has been an alliance without a mission, making
itself useful in places like Libya and Afghanistan without the
overarching challenge that the Soviet Union provided. The
search for that new mandate continues, and the emphasis on
partners, including Australia, indicates where NATO may be
looking. If the Chicago summit is any guide, NATO is becoming more
of a global alliance and less of a European bloc […] As the
world’s most successful military alliance, NATO remains a useful
umbrella and will no doubt be called upon to bless American forays
far from Europe […] This is where the partners come in. The United
States will try to get the formal authority of NATO for
out-of-area missions, but it will mostly ask the partners to
join in the real fighting.”
Rick Rozoff, a longtime observer of NATO,
outlined the Pacific dimension:
“ The North Atlantic Alliance in
fact has a Pacific strategy. Most of the most recent additions to
NATO’s Troop Contributing Countries in Afghanistan have come from
Asia-Pacific nations: Malaysia, Mongolia, Singapore, South Korea and
Tonga. Japan has dispatched military personnel, medics, as well.
Australia and New Zealand have had troops, including special forces,
engaged in combat operations in Afghanistan for years. With 1,550
soldiers assigned to the International Security Assistance Force,
Australia is the largest troop provider to that NATO operation of
any non-NATO country. “
A
report (PDF) from the think tank, Atlantic Council, also
envisions a Pacific footing for NATO:
“A
new Pacific Peace Partnership would bind NATO to important US allies
with shared values and common interests [...] Such a relationship
would further the important goal of multilateralizing the US
alliance system while permitting NATO to strengthen interoperability
with like-minded, capable allies and increase collaboration on
shared challenges of borderless scope, like cybersecurity.
Furthermore, closer European linkages with key US Pacific partners
will help ensure that European allies retain the capacity to shape
security in a region toward which the global balance of power is
rapidly tilting. It would be better for NATO proactively to build
stronger links with like-minded and capable Pacific partners rather
than be caught flat- footed in a future contingency.”
 |
| G77 Summit attendees (Image: MoI) |
An hour or so flight Northwest from Tonga is Fiji-which laid out the welcome mat to a
multi-nation summit of a different
sort. The diametrical opposing diplomatic approaches
taken by the NATO global partners and the G77, to the Pacific region could not be more of a contrast.
 |
| President Evo Morales about to drink a bilo of Yaqona (Image: MoI) |
Fiji hosts the G77 and Bolivian President, Evo Morales, is in
attendance as chief guest. The G77 being a political-economic bloc,
has its core values inextricably linked with
South-South cooperation, in which
technical and economic development is one of the UN organization''s
guiding principle.
President Morales
presence in Fiji,
is entirely unique because it appears to be the first Head of State
from the South American continent and one of an indigenous
extraction, to visit the region.
In addition, President Morales
celebrated
anti-imperial stances (a non-nonsense characteristic,
that is devoid in most spineless Pacific island leaders) and whose well grounded
assessments of United States foreign
policies have been widely documented:
“Bolivian president Evo Morales
criticised US government early today, labelling Obama’s foreign
policy as interventionist and authoritarian[...]The empire is no
solution, capitalism is no solution for humanity either […] that’s
why social movements have to think about new policies to save
humanity from imperialism and capitalism.”
 |
| President Evo Morales inspects the guard of honor in Fiji. (Image: Moi) |
Morales' latest action was capped off
last week by expelling the USAID from Bolivia, allegedly for
interfering in the country's domestic politics. Bolivia also has
some
international disagreements with Chile, regarding maritime
access to the Pacific ocean. It is certainly not missed by some acute
observers, that Chile was also attending the recent Defense Ministers
meeting in Tonga.
All things considered, the South
Pacific region is rapidly undergoing a re-configuration of the
geo-political order. What can be determined of this New Zealand's
deployment of troops in Tonga coupled with Australia's garrison of US
marines in Darwin?
Undoubtedly, the pre-positioning of
military resources in the South Pacific region, dove tails with the
overall objective of a global Full Spectrum Dominance of the US and
it has become increasingly clear, the magnitude and scope of the
'Great Game' in the Pacific region at large.
 |
| (l-r) G77 Chair, Voreqe Bainimarama, President Evo Morales, G77 Executive Secretary (Image : MoI) |
Club Em Designs
