Solomon Islands PM Manasseh Sogavare and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang attend a signing ceremony in Beijing. Photo / AP
OPINION
An article in the Cook Islands News caught my attention back in March. It should have caught the attention of Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta, too, but it doesn't seem to have.
The article is a glowing tribute to the People's Republic of China. Specifically, it refers to a visit by the Chinese ambassador as soon as the borders opened.
It says the Cook Islands were bankrupt in 1997, but since then the PRC has funded the country's courthouse, police headquarters, Ministry of Education and a sports facility. The two countries are looking forward to celebrating 25 years of partnership.
After the announcement of a Chinese naval base in the Solomon Islands, this kind of news shouldn't just catch our attention. It should set alarm bells ringing. The Chinese Communist Party clearly wishes to expand its influence in the South Pacific, and is wasting no time doing so.
Our Foreign Affairs strategy should be to build human connections in the Pacific. Yes, our Government has given $215 million to the Cook Islands and Fiji during Covid. Considering the geopolitical situation, that is money well spent, but it's human connections where we have an advantage.
Unfortunately, we're not using it. Human connections are about investing time, just as economic connections are about money.
So far this year we've insulted our Pacific neighbours by using them as a make-work scheme for former politicians. The job "Pacific Ambassador for Gender Equality" was never advertised. It was blatantly about getting Louisa Wall out of Labour. Where she went was an afterthought.
Fortunately, Labour has brighter stars. Imagine if Jacinda Ardern used her considerable global profile (she gave the Commencement Address at Harvard last week) to build bridges with the people of the Pacific. Even half a day of her time would be a sensation in the Cook Islands News.
While the Prime Minister flew commercial to the United States, the media pack covering her trip to Harvard took the old Air Force Jet and had to refuel in the Cook Islands on the way. Ardern was delayed by Covid, but why not have her Foreign Minister on the flight? Or organise to stop there on the way home?
If one good turn deserves another, then perhaps meeting our smaller neighbours might go down well in the White House when Ardern meets with them today.
Of course, the Prime Minister cannot be everywhere. That's why we have ministers such as Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta. She should give more time to the Pacific.
Her ministerial diary for the past three months shows many briefings with officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and phone calls. If you're looking for engagement with the Cook Islands since the borders have been open, then it's blank. No trips.
She should have fuelled up the old Air Force Jet and gone on a tour of our Pacific neighbours. She could have met all the leaders and delivered messages from New Zealand. She could say something like:
"We're sorry we blocked off family, tourists and horticultural workers for two years even though neither of our countries actually had Covid for most of that time. We're here now, how can we help? By the way, are you sure about those people with the chequebook, they don't always treat people so well in the end."
Back here in reality, the Minister of Foreign Affairs has only visited Fiji since the border opened. One suspects the problem is that the Minister of Foreign Affairs is also the Minister for Local Government, tied up in the Three Waters reforms. She also has a lot of meetings as the Associate Minister for Māori Development.
In comparison, when Murray McCully was the Minister of Foreign Affairs, he was constantly on the road. His only other responsibility was to be the Minister of Sport, hardly a taxing job.
Governments come and go. Some do a good job, others less so. If they don't we are sometimes set back, and have to play catch-up. The next Government will have to get the books back in order from Labour's splurge, for instance. Mostly, we can learn and fix our mistakes as a country, but some mistakes are more dangerous than others.
Turning our backs on our nearest neighbours is one of those dangerous mistakes. When facing outwards, the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister are not Labour, they are New Zealand. Let's hope they realise the mistake and get back to their job. The Prime Minister could even kill two birds with one stone. Relieve Nanaia Mahuta of the Three Waters reforms, and get her out on the road to repair our post-Covid Pacific relationships.
• Brooke van Velden is the deputy leader of the Act Party