'The western nations' continuing tough stand on Fiji will not only draw Fiji closer to the Asian power -notably China- but also the other Pacific Islands nations that are eligible to draw down aid from the allocated US$600 million. Fiji is now all set to access a part of the US$600 million soft loan from China that has been set aside for development projects in the Pacific Islands nations.
Last month, Bainimarama took the opportunity of Chinese Vice-President Xi Jinping's visit to Fiji to convey to the government in Beijing that Fiji had now finished the preparatory work and was ready to access its share of the soft loan facility earmarked for the Pacific Islands.
The lack of democracy in Fiji has made little difference to the way the Asian behemoth looks at its relationship with the South Pacific nation, unlike the harsh treatment meted out to the coup by the western world -mainly Australia, NZ, US and the EU-.
While these western nations have slammed sanction upon sanction on Fiji in a bid to put pressure on the interim administration to hold elections and pave the way for the return of a democratically elected government, China has refrained from even so much as commenting publicly on Fiji's internal situation, let alone criticising it.
There has been no talk of any sanctions, pressure to hold elections or bring back democracy.
In contrast to the western nations' tough position that has banned Bainimarama, his military council, members of his administration, their families and even sports teams from travelling to Australia and NZ, Bainimarama and his senior officials have travelled freely to China throughout these years.
For the past decade China growing influence in the region has been visible. Its plans to build one of the largest military bases in Guam has also been seen as a move to "conquer" the Pacific.
The western powers know that tiny nations of the Pacific now have an alternative source of aid and that they no longer depend solely on them as they have for over ten decades. The Asian economic powerhouses of China, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea have happily fulfilled that need to a large extent.
With the economic crisis plaguing much of the western world, there is little hope of any possibility of increased aid coming their way from that quarter-on the contrary, there is a distinct possibility of further aid cuts, if at all. While on the other hand, there is an assured, sanctioned sum of US$600 million available on tap from China.
If China agrees to release the first tranche of funds to Fiji soon, the rest of the Pacific nations will see that as a signal to align even more closely with the Chinese approach to the Pacific which is to leave the countries to sort out their internal problems without any external influence (other than, of course, the insistence on the One-China policy).
The western lack of results in their negotiations with Fiji has in fact helped accelerate the growing influence of the Asian powers in the region.
Last month, Bainimarama took the opportunity of Chinese Vice-President Xi Jinping's visit to Fiji to convey to the government in Beijing that Fiji had now finished the preparatory work and was ready to access its share of the soft loan facility earmarked for the Pacific Islands.
The lack of democracy in Fiji has made little difference to the way the Asian behemoth looks at its relationship with the South Pacific nation, unlike the harsh treatment meted out to the coup by the western world -mainly Australia, NZ, US and the EU-.
While these western nations have slammed sanction upon sanction on Fiji in a bid to put pressure on the interim administration to hold elections and pave the way for the return of a democratically elected government, China has refrained from even so much as commenting publicly on Fiji's internal situation, let alone criticising it.
There has been no talk of any sanctions, pressure to hold elections or bring back democracy.
In contrast to the western nations' tough position that has banned Bainimarama, his military council, members of his administration, their families and even sports teams from travelling to Australia and NZ, Bainimarama and his senior officials have travelled freely to China throughout these years.
For the past decade China growing influence in the region has been visible. Its plans to build one of the largest military bases in Guam has also been seen as a move to "conquer" the Pacific.
The western powers know that tiny nations of the Pacific now have an alternative source of aid and that they no longer depend solely on them as they have for over ten decades. The Asian economic powerhouses of China, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea have happily fulfilled that need to a large extent.
With the economic crisis plaguing much of the western world, there is little hope of any possibility of increased aid coming their way from that quarter-on the contrary, there is a distinct possibility of further aid cuts, if at all. While on the other hand, there is an assured, sanctioned sum of US$600 million available on tap from China.
If China agrees to release the first tranche of funds to Fiji soon, the rest of the Pacific nations will see that as a signal to align even more closely with the Chinese approach to the Pacific which is to leave the countries to sort out their internal problems without any external influence (other than, of course, the insistence on the One-China policy).
The western lack of results in their negotiations with Fiji has in fact helped accelerate the growing influence of the Asian powers in the region.
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