Joining Newsroom once again is Labour List MP and Party President u/SoSaturnistic.

Comment: Liberal Deputy Leader opposes peace and international law

written by u/SoSaturnistic

The Liberal Party's Deputy Leader recently authored an article regarding the status of the Minerva Reefs. Many issues stand out within that article, such as inventing the names of figures who do not actually exist, conjuring up fictional experts out of thin air, and misrepresenting the nature of the Labour Party and its organisational structure. Beyond all these reasonable complaints about the Bugle of Liberty's story, though, lies a much more serious issue about the way that the Liberal Party views peace in the Pacific.

In his article, u/Gregor_The_Beggar claims that the Minerva Reefs are "contested heavily by both Fiji and Tonga" and that there is some sort of unclear "white peace". Nothing could be further from the truth.

Our current Prime Minister was able to secure a comprehensive peace agreement between both Fiji and Tonga in the previous parliamentary term. This agreement was unequivocal in proclaiming that absolute sovereignty over the reefs lay with Tonga, not Fiji. This is nothing new, as the agreement that the Green-Labour coalition Government brokered at the time simply used the precedent set by the 1972 Pacific Islands Forum. Tonga also exercises sovereignty in line with the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, one of the foundational instruments of international maritime law and a treaty to which New Zealand is a party.

Far from what u/Gregor_The_Beggar has claimed, the Minerva Reefs issue is settled and not in dispute: Fiji has no claim beyond the excuses conjured up by Fijian nationalist figures. Far from the fault of u/TheOWOTringle, it is the Liberal Deputy Leader's weak and ambiguous stance on sovereignty and international law which threatens peace and risks encouraging Fiji to once again take an aggressive stance on the Minerva Reefs issue. I left the Liberal Party once due to a culture which promoted Fijian nationalist policy and it is disappointing to see this narratives rear their head once again.

New Zealanders should not accept the risk of emergent military conflict in our Pacific region and need to hold reckless politicians like u/Gregor_The_Beggar to account. As the Liberals merge into the National Party, New Zealanders need to know that national security and regional stability are at risk if the Fijian nationalists get into Government after 11 July. They simply cannot be trusted.

Reasonable people can disagree over whether the reefs deserve particular attention within the proposed Protected Sovereign States and Territories Bill. International law and peace between Fiji and Tonga, however, must be beyond reproach.