CAPSTONE 19-3 Indo-Pacific Field Study Subject Page Fiji .............................................................................. 3 Australia ....................................................................69 Singapore ................................................................133 Combatant Command ............................................187 National Security Strategy .......................................237 National Defense Strategy ......................................303 Charting a Course, Chapter 9 (Asia Pacific) ...........317 1 This page intentionally blank 2 Fiji Subject Page Chargé d’Affaires Michael Goldman ............................5 US Relations with Fiji ..................................................7 CultureGram 2019 ........................................................9 BBC Country Profile ...................................................19 Economist Intelligence Unit Country Report .............. 23 CRS The Pacific Islands: Policy Issues .................... 43 3 This page intentionally blank 4 5 This page intentionally blank 6 U.S. Department of State Diplomacy in Action U.S. Relations With Fiji BUREAU OF EAST ASIAN AND PACIFIC AFFAIRS Fact Sheet July 17, 2018 More information about Fiji is available on the Fiji Page (http://www.state.gov/p/eap/ci/fj/) and from other Department of State publications and other sources listed at the end of this fact sheet. U.S.-FIJI RELATIONS The United States established diplomatic relations with Fiji in 1971, following its independence from the United Kingdom. Relations between Fiji and the United States have traditionally been good. The two countries share a multi- ethnic heritage, a commitment to democratic values, and a record of close cooperation on international peacekeeping operations, regional security, environmental issues including climate change, and economic development. The U.S. Peace Corps is active in Fiji, with some 65 volunteers in 13 Fijian provinces, and in 2018 celebrated its 50th anniversary in the country. In September 2014, Fiji held elections that restored a democratically elected government and parliament to Fiji for the first time since the 2006 coup. The United States participated in a Multinational Observer Group representing 13 countries, which assessed the elections to be free and fair and broadly representative of the will of the Fijian people. After 2014 elections, the United States reinitiated security assistance and lifted restrictions on U.S. financing assistance to the Government of Fiji that were put in place following in 2006. U.S. Assistance to Fiji USAID funds regional projects assisting communities in accessing financing, building institutional capacity, and adapting to climate change. The Ready project (2016-2021) supports climate finance and management capacity. With the Pacific Community (SPC), the Institutional Strengthening in Pacific Island Countries to Adapt to Climate Change project (ISACC, 2015-2020) is undertaking climate finance assessments and supporting scale up of successful multi-sectoral projects. The Pacific American Climate Fund (PACAM, 2013-2019) builds the capacity of small local grantees while supporting their efforts to improve food security and natural resource management. As the largest contributor to the World Bank and, with Japan, to the Asian Development Bank, the United States supports a broad range of economic development and infrastructure programs in the Asia Pacific, including Fiji. Fiji receives Foreign Military Financing (FMF) to equip its military and participates in the International Military Education and Training (IMET) program, which sends Fijian officers and senior enlisted personnel to professional military education and leadership development courses in the United States. The United States contributes U.S. 7 Coast Guard and U.S. Navy air assets to regional Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) operations that help Fiji protect earnings from fishing licenses in the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Additionally, Fiji is a regular participant in U.S. Pacific Command sponsored workshops on topics including humanitarian assistance/disaster relief, maritime security, peacekeeping, and international humanitarian law. Bilateral Economic Relations The United States has been among Fiji's principal trading partners. The main products imported to the United States from Fiji include bottled water, tuna, and sugar. U.S. exports to Fiji are mainly machinery, transport equipment, and food. Fiji and the United States do not have a bilateral investment agreement. Tourism and remittances, including from the United States, contribute significantly to the Fijian economy. Fiji is a party to the U.S.-Pacific Islands Multilateral Tuna Fisheries Treaty, which provides access for U.S. fishing vessels in exchange for a license fee from the U.S. industry. Under a separate Economic Assistance Agreement associated with the Treaty, the United States government currently provides $21 million per year to Pacific Island Parties. Fiji's Membership in International Organizations Fiji and the United States belong to a number of the same international organizations, including the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the World Trade Organization, the Pacific Community, and the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environmental Programme. Fiji also belongs to the Pacific Islands Forum, of which the United States is a Dialogue Partner. Public Diplomacy A generally positive view of the United States, shared by most Fijians, along with English as a common language, provides ready audiences for public diplomacy. The Embassy’s Public Affairs Section administers small but robust academic and professional exchanges, including Fulbright, Humphrey, International Visitors Leadership (IVLP) and the U.S. - South Pacific Scholarship programs, as well as a wide range of media, cultural, educational, and small grants programs. The public outreach is also maintained through American Spaces in Lautoka and Suva (American Resource Center located in the Embassy). Bilateral Representation The position of U.S. Ambassador to Fiji is currently vacant; other principal embassy officials are listed in the Department's Key Officers List (http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/111812.pdf). Fiji maintains an embassy (http://www.fijiembassydc.com/) in the United States at 1707 L Street NW, Suite 200, Washington, DC 20036 (tel: 202-337-8320). More information about Fiji is available from the Department of State and other sources, some of which are listed here: 8 CultureGramsTM Republic of World Edition 2019 Fiji may have come from Asia. Various Pacific peoples later BACKGROUND migrated to the Fijian Islands, which they called Viti; Western explorers used the Tongan word Feejee to name the islands Land and Climate and the people. According to legend, sons of an early settler Fiji is located in the southwestern Pacific, north of New named Degei established the chiefly system (yavusa) that Zealand. Fiji comprises more than 300 islands, but only about ordered society for centuries to come. Until Christianity was 110 are inhabited. Fiji is just larger than Kuwait and slightly introduced, Degei was worshiped as a god who took the form smaller than the U.S. state of New Jersey. Two main islands, of a snake. Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, are home to most of the Although the Dutch had a brief encounter with Fijians in population. The larger Fijian islands are volcanic, 1643, Captain James Cook of England spent more time with mountainous, and surrounded by coral reefs. The southeastern them in 1774. Later, trade vessels came for sandalwood, sides of the islands are covered with dense tropical forests. which was used in ornamental carving and cabinetmaking. The northwestern sides consist of grassy plains that receive The islands were known by many as the Cannibal Islands less rain. because of the Fijians' reputation as fierce warriors and The climate is humid and tropical. The rainy season is cannibals. Fijians believed that eating the enemy let them from November to April, when violent tropical cyclones are possess the enemy's power; it was not for lack of food. After possible. In December 2012, Cyclone Evan, a Category 4 years of tribal warfare, Chief Ratu Cakobau converted to storm, caused heavy damages to Fiji's infrastructure. In Christianity in 1854, united rival tribes under the new February 2016, Fiji was hit by Cyclone Winston, a Category 5 religion, ended cannibalism, and became king of Fiji in 1871. storm that was the strongest cyclone recorded in the Southern Colonial Period and Independence Hemisphere. The western side of Fiji's main island, Viti Levu, Cakobau was aware of European competition for territory in is also prone to flooding. Earthquakes are common in Fiji as the Pacific and, in 1874, offered to cede the islands to Great well. Annual temperatures change little and range from 72 to Britain (after the United States refused the same offer). 86°F (22–30°C). Britain brought in laborers from India to work on sugarcane plantations. The descendants of these workers still live in Fiji History today. First Inhabitants Exactly 96 years to the day after cession to Britain, Fiji The islands of Fiji were first settled at least 3,500 years ago gained its independence (10 October 1970). That year, it also by migrating sailors whose descendants became known as the joined the Commonwealth of Nations, an organization mostly Lapita. Though their actual origins are unknown and written