Would you fly on a "Made in China" to your tropical cruise?

[rossd 16]

What is really at stake with all the Chinese influence in the Islands is Democracy. True, NZ Aus and US have given heaps of money and no doubt with strings attached sometimes over the years but at least on the face of it have supported democracy and human rights. China has no interest whatsoever in either of these cornerstones of western culture. We in NZ will stand up for such values, but the islanders will have no such luxury.

[Guest]

Just as a FYI there is not a whole lot of democracy in the tropical South Pacific. Many countries that profess to have a parliamentary democracy have mangled the concept out of all recognition by corruption and graft and a lot of other countries haven't yet experienced the heady joys of one person one vote. Not saying China is any good but a one size fits all democratic system is not suited to Pacific Island culture either.

[rossd 16]

As a "Local" Pd what about human rights or is that another lost cause.

[Guest]

Human rights aren't too much of an issue, even in Fiji. You're probably going to be thumped a little harder by the cops when they arrest you but that's about it. The wanky press in NZ & Oz prattle on about media censorship in Fiji but they are actually censoring news themselves by being selective about what they report on, ie no balanced coverage of things but always wanking on about "military strongman" etc. If NZ media had a skerrick of competence they might become aware of the censorship attempts in Vanuatu, PNG etc. but we all know NZ journalism died a sad death a few years ago.