New Zealand foreign minister calls for 'more compromise' on New Caledonia
Comments on territory in Japan speech spark response from French envoy
TOKYO -- New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters said on Friday that "more compromise" is needed to address the ongoing situation in New Caledonia during a speech, parts of which sparked a protest from a French diplomat in attendance.
During the address in Tokyo, Peters, who also serves as deputy prime minister, addressed tensions in the French territory, which erupted in riots in May and have simmered on with sporadic violence.
Many in the indigenous Kanak population have long pushed for independence, which is opposed by loyalists to France.
The most recent of three referendums on separating from France was held in 2021. While 96% of those who participated chose to remain, the vote was boycotted by the pro-independence movement.
Earlier this year, divisions turned to violence when the French parliament passed a law that would grant voting rights to people who have lived in New Caledonia for more than 10 years.
Peters, in the Japanese capital to participate in the Pacific Islands Leaders Forum that concluded on Thursday, weighed in on the referendum, saying it followed the "letter" of agreements on a pathway to self determination, but not the "spirit."
"To any outsider, the obvious democratic injury of a vastly reduced, and therefore different, sample of voters engaging in the third referendum raises questions about its legitimacy," he said.
He also acknowledged that long-term residents understandably felt they had also suffered a "democratic injury" due to ongoing disenfranchisement.
"The situation has reached an impasse, and one not easily navigated given the violence that broke out, and democratic injuries that have reopened old wounds, and created new ones," he said, calling for "more diplomacy, more engagement, more compromise".
But some of his remarks concerning the lead-up to the current unrest led to a tense exchange with France's Ambassador to the Pacific Veronique Roger-Lacan who was in the audience.
Roger-Lacan, during a question and answer session for attendees after the speech concluded, said France "appreciated the offer" of assistance, but took issue with Peters' description of the situation.
"Indeed the democratic injury stems from the violence that has occurred starting from the 13th of May contesting democratic results of democratic elections being organized in a democratic way by the French state," she said.
"And if there is anything to be discussed so far, it's not between France and New Caledonia because New Caledonia, until further notice, is France and France is ready to assist the Caledonian people to their self determination."
Roger-Lacan also said that as France's Pacific ambassador she would have "appreciated to be informed of the way you portrayed New Caledonia" in advance of the speech.
Speaking to Nikkei Asia afterwards, Peters said PALM members had discussed sending a delegation to New Caledonia.
"There was a discussion about that, but of course for anything that has to happen it had to be agreed on in Paris, which is the point some of us were making," Peters said in an interview.
Peters said that New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon had raised the issue with French President Emmanuel Macron at the recent NATO summit in the U.S, but also pointed to the current state of flux in French politics following elections in June.
"There are models where we can take this peacefully forward to the satisfaction of all the aggrieved parties," he said.