KEY POINTS:
Fiji's military is making overtures to New Zealand tourists while at the same time condemning the expelled New Zealand High Commissioner.
Fiji military chief and Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama yesterday challenged the Government to rethink its travel advice to New Zealanders after the expulsion of High Commissioner Michael
Green.
And in the first statement under his own name since the diplomatic row erupted, he made relatively conciliatory comments about how much Fiji values its diplomatic relations.
"The important thing to also bear in mind is Fiji values its entire spectrum of relationships with New Zealand.
"Our diplomatic relations, as far as I am concerned with New Zealand, remain intact. There is not severance of relationship."
However, Commodore Bainimarama's statement suggested no backdown by Fiji on its decision to expel Mr Green, claiming that he persistently interfered in - unspecified - domestic affairs.
Prime Minister Helen Clark immediately questioned the safety of visitors to Fiji - which is dependent on tourism and already experiencing a downturn from the December 5 coup.
"I don't think a country which has a coup, and the people who led the coup are in control, is a safe country to be in," Helen Clark said.
The official Government caution to travellers on the safetravel website is that there is "some risk" in Fiji and that caution is advised.
Commodore Bainimarama claimed yesterday it was "unfair and totally out of context" for the new Zealand Government to be advising its citizens to exercise caution and care in light of the diplomatic incident.
"My question simply is, how can Fiji become more dangerous and a security risk to New Zealand tourists visiting our shores by the actions we have taken on New Zealand High Commissioners?"
Fiji continued to be safe and peaceful, the commodore said, and an attractive tourist and investment destination.
The Fiji Government has not specified what it considers to be acts of interference.
But there has been speculation that it includes meetings with Opposition political parties - which is common conduct for all diplomats - and trying to ensure Commodore Bainimarama does not attend the Pacific Islands Forum in Tonga in October, a move that would almost certainly force a boycott from New Zealand and Australian leaders.
Helen Clark did not let up on her criticism yesterday, and after talks with Australian Prime Minister John Howard in Sydney, described Fiji as a "rogue state".
She said Wellington was considering ways to strengthen the travel ban on Fijians associated with the coup because of the pressure it appeared to be placing on leaders of the military regime.
Mr Howard condemned Fiji's leaders as undemocratic, arbitrary and peremptory, but gave no indication that Australia would retaliate beyond the sanctions imposed after last December's military coup.
He also declined to advise Australians against travelling to Fiji, in contrast to Helen Clark's warnings.
Mr Howard said he believed his best course of action was to express his complete agreement with Helen Clark over Mr Green's expulsion.
"That's the appropriate thing to do, to make it clear to the interim administration of Fiji that it acted unjustifiably, that it was a wrong thing to do ... "
Helen Clark said she thought Fiji was going to come under increasing international pressure because of its "utterly bizarre behaviour".
"I think we're looking at ... a regime that is under considerable strain, because things haven't gone the way they thought they would.
"So in essence I think that Fiji is going to have to work out whether it keeps its commitments for an orderly transition back to constitutional government or whether it's going to continue to behave like a rogue state."
* Fairfax journalist Michael Field was separated from other journalists arriving in Nadi and put under guard before being put on a flight to Auckland yesterday.
Fairfax group editor John Crowley said Field was not questioned "to any great extent" but it was made clear to him that the authorities were unhappy about some of the stories he had written recently about the situation in Fiji.
