However, there was another burning topic brought up at this year’s Pacific Island Forum Leader’s Meeting, the biggest annual event in the region: New Caledonia and the upheaval that struck the French overseas territory back in May.
Deadly protests were prompted by a contentious French proposal to grant voting rights to anybody who had resided on the islands for more than ten years. Since then, eleven people have lost their lives—nine civilians and two French gendarmes—but French police are still present in the area.
After visiting New Caledonia in June, President Emmanuel Macron put an end to the reform.
However, there are still many unresolved issues, like the 41% of Indigenous Kanaks who are pushing for independence.
According to their statements, the French wish to correct the record. They were on a public relations assignment in Tonga, where this past week leaders from all eighteen island states and territories convened, including President Louis Mapou of New Caledonia.
Small island states, however, were dubious because of the bloodshed in New Caledonia, which had caused support for the French to decline. Furthermore, a lot of people believed that France was trying to maintain control over a vital region of the world where China and the US were vying for influence.
