Transcript
Moetai Brotherson: They are acting as if we were not put back on the list which is a total nonsense and a kind of schizophrenic posture because they have two territories back on that list, New Caledonia and ourselves. And on one hand they are at the table of discussions regarding New Caledonia. When the topics of New Caledonia is raised at the UN they stay in the room whereas whenever it comes to the topic of French Polynesia they leave the room and then they come back afterwards. To us it is total disrespect and we don't think it's posture that they can adopt much longer. That's really the part that's missing, it's France coming to the table as an adult country being respectful of the UN's decision.
Walter Zweifel: Do you have any idea why France would not attend discussions involving French Polynesia while honouring the process in relationship to New Caledonia?
MB: It's a little bit sad if you come to the analysis of that because I think it all comes down to violence. We have been very proud and very glad to achieve our reinscription without any bloodshed whereas in New Caledonia more than 80 people died for that. So maybe [it is] the only language that France accepts to listen to which would be a pity.
WZ: In today's situation is there anyone, or any country, that is vocal about supporting your action and your activity?
MB: The vast majority of the countries of the NAM (Non-Aligned Movement) are very supportive because they are all former colonies and they know what it is to be colonised, and they are very supportive of any decolonisation process and they increasingly don't understand why France is adopting the stance it has been adopting since our re-inscription.
WZ: President Macron was in Noumea a couple of weeks ago and he gave a speech, outlining this new concept of an Indo-Pacific zone, and in his language it stretches from France via India to Noumea and also mentions Papeete. How do you feel being part of something sort of strategic and global?
MB: We have long been conscious of our strategic position right in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. We are on the line from China to Brazil. You will find French Polynesia in the middle of what I would say is now the economic centre of the world. So it comes as no surprise to us that Macron is realising the importance of that. What is I would say a little bit disturbing to us is that we don't envision our future as a pawn for France on the geostrategic chessboard for France. We consider ourselves as a nation in building. Our role is still independence and we don't want to be used and abused by superpowers, any of them, including France.
WZ: How do you feel, from your vantage point in Papeete, feel about China's incursion as a soft power at the moment into the Pacific region?
MB: We don't see China as an enemy or an adversary. We want to see China as partner, as a possible partner in the future, but of course we are very cautious of history taught and history learned. For example in Africa where we have seen bad examples, bad practices by China using natural resources of these countries, going from soft power to hard power in many of these countries when they come to have established strategic ties. We don't want to be in that position because we have welcomed China, we change one coloniser for the other. So we want to see China as a partner and as a partner, we welcome it, but we don't want to be just another pawn. We used to be a pawn for France and becoming a pawn for China or any other superpower is not on our radar.
WZ: How do you see in this context this huge project with Hao atoll which is interestingly enough also the place where there is a huge military runway?
MB: What is envisioned by the current local government, we consider it a total nonsense from an economic standpoint as well as an ecological standpoint.
WZ: And how is that?
MB: Well, for example, they want to put more than 2,000 fish cages in one lagoon, the lagoon of Hao which is known to be polluted by radioactive waste even though efforts have been made by France in the last few years to depollute this lagoon, but it is still polluted. So to us to do aquaculture in the lagoon of Hao is a total nonsense because who wants to eat fish that comes from a polluted lagoon? Also the species that they want to cultivate are totally carnivorous species. So it takes six kilos of sardines from Argentina to raise one kilo of fish from the Hao aquaculture project which is a total nonsense. One, killing the lagoon of Hao. Two, bringing in six times more fish from outside than the fish that will produce from Hao, which is just crazy.
