new zealand
p. 37 · Read in the full issue
Writing from Wellington, New Zealand, William Gasson sees his country being cast in a new international role. As the only developed country situated wholly within the South Pacific basin, he says, New Zealand is increasingly being used as an intermediary by big Pacific Rim powers who, with their changed perceptions of the future of the region, are urgently seeking to learn more about it.
Gasson also reviews New Zealand's trade and aid activities, and records the official New Zealand viewpoint on the contentious Pacific Forum Line a viewpoint which is strongly contested in extracts published here from an article by Fiji Prime Minister Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara. From Port Moresby, Sinclaire Solomon reviews Papua New Guinea s growing relations with New Zealand, and from Papeete Marie-Therese and Bengt Danielsson tell an intriguing story of recent developments in trade between New Zealand and French Polynesia. From Suva Robert Keith-Reid describes the changing relationship which has emerged from the long association between Fiji and New Zealand.