By Rieko Hayakawa
On 16 July, exactly two months after the New Caledonia riots that began on May 13, The 10th Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting (PALM10) was held in Tokyo, Japan.
The Government of Japan and the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) co-organized the meeting. Leaders from across the Pacific, including New Caledonia, held a caucus meeting in the ‘margins’ of PALM10. New Caledonia is now a full member of the PIF.
As Cook Islands Prime Minister and Pacific Islands Forum Chair Mark Brown stated, the issue of New Caledonia is a pressing issue for the PIF: I cannot underscore enough how important it is for us, as Leaders, to continue to dialogue, engage and discuss emerging opportunities and innovative ways to address challenges that face our Forum Family at every opportunity.
The New Caledonia problem was discussed at the margin of PALM10. However, it is not a marginal theme for all PALM participants. Instead, it was vigorously debated as an issue in need of PIF regionalism and political leadership.
New Caledonia Matters to the PIF
The timing of PALM10 provided an opportunity for leaders from the Pacific Islands scattered across the vast Pacific to come together and discuss the urgent and extremely high-level political issue of New Caledonia. It is an issue that could not be dealt with in an online conference.
The key figure from the New Caledonian government was Claude Gambey. He is the Chief of Staff to the President of the Autonomous Government (Special Envoy). Gambey attended the meeting on his government’s behalf.
He gave an update on the situation in New Caledonia and requested continued support during the caucus. The PIF responded by requesting the French Government to conduct a field survey by the General Assembly in Tonga at the end of August. This request was fashioned on PALM10’s margin but it is a major political move.
The Pacific Islands leaders meeting has been held since 1997. However, this is the first time that the content of such a meeting held at the margin has been widely reported.
What if this had been China? China has also held meetings similar to the PALM. Nevertheless, there are still three countries in the Pacific (Palau, Tuvalu, and the Marshall Islands) that support Taiwan. Therefore, China cannot be invited as a PIF.
The regionalism and political leadership of the half-century-old Pacific Islands Forum is strong enough to defy Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s security agreement. It is in Japan’s national interest that the PALM has been working with the PIF.
Melanesian Spearhead Group’s ‘Tokyo Statement’
There was further New Caledonia discussion at the margin of PALM10. The Melanesian Spearhead Group issued a Tokyo Statement. The significance of the deliberate inclusion of “Tokyo” in its title is important. This would not have been possible had PALM10 not been held in Tokyo.
The document begins: We, the Leaders of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG), Fiji, FLNKS, Papua New Guinea (PNG), Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu, meeting in Tokyo, Japan, on the margins of the Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting (PALM10), specifically on the issue of Kanaky-New Caledonia.
For a Japanese person like myself, who has a long-standing interest in New Caledonian issues, this point alone is deeply moving as a historical one.
The Melanesia Spearhead Group was founded in 1986. It is a regional organisation focusing on political debates with a mission of decolonizing the Melanesian region. Its members are Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and New Caledonia. All these countries were invited to PALM10. Even though New Caledonia is a member of the Melanesia Spearhead Group, the Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front are also part of it, including mainly indigenous Kanak people.
What the Document States
The Tokyo Statement contains 16 detailed requests and proposals. Its basis is independence for New Caledonia and a re-do of the third referendum on independence.
What caught my attention was the content of the following sections on the youth issue behind the New Caledonia riots.
9. Kanaky-New Caledonia Human Resource Development
9.1 Mindful of the need to prepare Kanaky-New Caledonia for full sovereignty, directs the MSG Secretariat and Member Governments to establish an educational fund for young Kanak students and professionals to enable them to study in the MSG National Universities and other educational and training institutions.
9.2 We further direct that the MSG Secretariat utilises Vatu 5 million [USD$40,700] from its 2024 Budget surplus to kick start this initiative.
9.3 We also call on France to facilitate training for young Kanak students and professionals to undertake studies, not only in France but in MSG Universities and Technical Institutions.
The official language of New Caledonia is French. However, education in French can only lead to jobs in France. This makes it difficult for youth to find employment in Australia and New Zealand, which are close to New Caledonia. The significance of studying at an English-speaking Melanesian university is that it greatly expands their post-graduation opportunities.
There is no direct Japanese support for New Caledonia’s case at this PALM. However, Japan announced the creation of a ¥500 million JPY (US$3.2 million) fisheries research centre at the Solomon Islands National University. That leaves open the possibility that young people from New Caledonia could study there in the future.
The PALM10 in Tokyo further provided the opportunity for margin diplomacy on the New Caledonia issue. French Pacific Ambassador Véronique Roger-Lacan visited Tokyo with Presidential Diplomatic Advisor Walid FOUQUE. Ambassador Roger-Lacan’s own X (formerly Twitter) feed confirms that she held meetings with key members of the PALM in Tokyo.
New Caledonia and Paris are located on opposite sides of the globe. The journey by plane takes 30 hours. I suggested in my last JAPAN Forward article that the two sides meet in Japan, the halfway point between the two countries. And that is exactly what happened.
In fact, the above Tokyo Statement contains a curious item. In item 5, it asks the French government to appoint high-level Eminent Persons involved in the Noumea Accord. Certainly, Ambassador Roger-Lacan does not appear to have been involved in the New Caledonia issue in the past. However, the New Caledonia issue seems to be weighing heavily on her shoulders.
Dialogue is important and must continue. Dialogue, not violence. PALM10 was important in that it provided the opportunity to hold several dialogues on the New Caledonia problem.
Rieko Hayakawa, PhD, is a Japanese scholar with expertise in Pacific security, ICT 4 Development, and ocean law.
