‘Neighborhoods are important to us,’ Winston Peters says ahead of Pacific trip

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters will visit Fiji in December 2023.
photo: Carol Hawkins

New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Fiji tonight on the first stop of his four-nation Pacific tour.

Peters, who also serves as deputy prime minister, will continue north on Sunday to the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia and Palau.

He plans to visit all 17 Pacific Islands Forum member countries within a year.

By the end of this trip, he will have visited 14 countries, with New Caledonia, French Polynesia and Kiribati remaining to visit.

“We thought that when we came into power last November, we were determined to fill a non-contact void,” Peters said.

“From the perspective of our long-term security and long-term interests, our neighbors are very important to us.”

Asked if China’s growing influence in the region prompted him to visit all the countries, Peters said the region was a focus for him when he became foreign minister in 2017.

“Many people believe that charity begins at home, but from a national perspective, we ignore our neighbors at our peril.”

Peters was leading a cross-party delegation, something he has done on other occasions.

The visit will be joined by Labor’s Pacific caucus chair Jenny Salesa, Nationals MP Tim van de Molen and Greens MP Teanau Tuiono.

Peters said it was about ensuring Pacific nations understood that no matter who entered parliament, “we face the world together”.

“Politics should be as bipartisan as possible when it comes to foreign affairs.”

He said New Zealand knew as much about the Pacific as any other country because of its “cultural and historical DNA”.

“We need to have trusted partnerships, not just with the countries of the Blue Continent, but with all countries that want to engage with the countries of the Blue Continent, where if they need information, if they need help, they can look to New Zealand as a confidential and trusted advisor.”

The visit to Fiji will be held in conjunction with the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Suva.

This is the last meeting before the Pacific Islands Forum leaders’ meeting in Tonga later this month.

Many of the Pacific nation’s leaders double as foreign ministers, including incoming chairperson and Tongan Prime Minister Huakawameliku Shosi-Sovaleni.

Hu’akavameiliku is appointed Tonga’s Foreign Minister after the previous Minister, Fekita ‘Utoikamanu, resigned due to King Tupou VI’s disapproval of his appointment.

He told RNZ Pacific he would brief the group on the PIF agenda at the meeting and bring any issues they had to the PIF for discussion.

North Pacific Ocean

The last independent ministerial visit to the North Pacific was in 2007, when Peters led a Pacific delegation to the Marshall Islands.

The Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, and Palau have all signed Compacts of Free Association (COFA) with the United States.

These agreements give U.S. troops access to these countries, and in return those countries receive financial aid and the right to work in the United States.

The latest COFA agreement, covering US funding for the next 20 years, was signed into law in March after a five-month delay.

RNZ Pacific Marshall Islands correspondent Giff Johnson said at the time the nations were being “left on the shelf” and it was “typical” of Washington’s approach to the Pacific Islands.

Palau holds general elections this year.