Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Ligamamada Rabuka met with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and held discussions on a range of issues. Jaishankar is on a three-day visit to the South Pacific archipelago nation to attend the 12th World Hindi Conference.
During their meeting, the two leaders touched upon several regional and global issues of shared interest, including the Indo-Pacific.
The two, however, did not discuss China during their talks, according to Fijian Prime Minister. Rabula said that they didn’t bring up China during their discussion as it was “bad manners to talk about somebody who is not in the building.” The Fijian PM said that he and Jaishkankar discussed their own cooperation.
Asked whether the two leaders discussed China during their talks, Rabuka said, “We thought it was bad manners to talk about somebody who is not in the building. We spoke about our own cooperation and we’re very fortunate to have such a great power and economy talking to us.”
“We have great old friends and there is no need to look for new friends. There are no really new friends in this region. We have been friends with India, and we have been friends with China. We’ll continue our relationship,” the Fijian Prime Minister said.
The two leaders agreed to work more closely towards strengthening multilateral cooperation, and working strongly in international organisations. “We particularly focused on the Pacific region because again India sees Fiji as a very important partner in the Indo-Pacific,” Jaishankar said a t a joint press conference with Rebuka.
India, the US and several other countries have been stressing the need to ensure a free, open and thriving Indo-Pacific in view of China’s growing military assertiveness in the resource-rich region.
