Opinion: While Albanese scores in footy diplomacy, that other state of origin – China – has an end game | Peter Hartcher
It was a tale of two cities. In Fiji’s capital of Suva it was footy and friendship. Anthony Albanese took over the bar in the Grand Pacific Hotel and shouted drinks for any of the other Pacific leaders who wanted to watch the State of Origin game with him on Wednesday night.
The Secretary-General of the Pacific Islands Forum, Henry Puna of the Cook Islands, whose nomination for the job fractured the group’s membership last year and threatened regional unity, donned a NSW Blues guernsey. So camaraderie among the PIF’s members is about much more than a footy match. It’s a geopolitical advantage for Australia.
Fiji’s Bainimarama remarked at the time: “Geopolitical point-scoring means less than little to anyone whose community is slipping beneath the rising seas.” Another winning offering from the Albanese government is its new immigration quota of 3000 places a year reserved specifically for Pacific peoples. It’s also announced improved working visa access. “These are real relationship builders over generations,” a former Pacific leader commented.
Albanese couldn’t help but sound just a little smug at the end of his visit to Suva: “Australian influence, which historically has been a country of great significance for the region, has been enhanced by this meeting.”
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