OPINION:
Last week, I read with significant concern for all Pacific island governments and their people that my former ambassadorial colleague from China, Qian Bo — with whom I served in Fiji — was named Beijing’s special envoy for Pacific island countries affairs.
It is odd that China would turn to Mr. Qian in hopes of resuscitating Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s recent failed attempt to have 10 Pacific island nations sign on to a sweeping five-year trade and security communique at a meeting in Suva, Fiji’s capital.
When the communique was leaked, one of the invited nations said it revealed the People’s Republic of China’s actual intent to control the region and threaten its stability, rightly causing concern among the U.S. and our Five Eyes allies and other friends in the Indo-Pacific.
After the leak, Mr. Wang said in an odd attempt to assuage the suspicious leaders: “Don’t be too anxious and don’t be too nervous, because the common development and prosperity of China and all the other developing countries would only mean great harmony, greater justice and greater progress of the whole world.”
Fortunately, the Pacific island leaders cast a leery eye at the latest PRC move to tip the nearly 80-year-old peaceful balance in the Indo-Pacific, and the communique failed. These leaders should also cast a leery eye at Mr. Qian and his appointment.
During Mr. Qian’s tenure in Fiji, staff at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat loathed him and were contemptuous of his diplomatic skills. Rather than the patient work of building relationships and rapport, Mr. Qian specialized in splashy giveaways, from rugby balls to fancy buses, and strictly enforced a 9 p.m. curfew for his staff. Mr. Qian was also known for his aggressive stunts, which angered and embarrassed his hosts.
One particular moment of Mr. Qian’s tenure that stands out came at the 2018 Pacific Islands Forum meeting in Nauru, where he stood up at a moment when he did not have the floor, yelling something about Taiwan in an offensive manner at the organizers and stormed out, shocking everyone.
Undiplomatically, he did not reply to our courtesy invitations in 2020 to attend the V-E and V-J Day celebrations, even though the Republic of China was an ally in World War II. At the U.N.’s 75th anniversary commemoration, his military attaches took photos of all of us attending.
Weeks later, at Taiwan’s National Day party, those same photographers took photos of Fijian ministers, foreign diplomats, nongovernmental organization representatives and members of the ethnic Chinese community in Fiji at the Grand Pacific Hotel and then left.
It later became known that Mr. Qian spoke with them by phone and ordered them back into the hotel to seize the flag of Taiwan from the national day cake. In that attempt to storm the party, they instigated a brawl that resulted in the hospitalization of a Taiwanese diplomat.
It was not too long after that one of my Five Eye colleagues paid Mr. Qian a courtesy call in which he spoke for nearly an hour straight, deriding allies’ calls for a free and open Indo-Pacific, questioning the motivations of the West, and rolling out the trope of a “Cold War mentality.” Considering his abrasiveness, Mr. Qian’s appointment will be welcomed in Washington and by our allies in New Zealand and Australia.
The pattern of Mr. Qian’s temperament, leadership, and the duties he assigned to his staff in Suva speak for themselves and are a troubling example of a wolf warrior and the non-rules-based order behaviors of the PRC and the CCP. Mr. Qian may soon appear on the shore of a Pacific island presenting any number of ideas, proposals or opportunities while in sheep’s clothing, but he is cloaking a known wolf warrior.
The long-lasting bonds of friendship between the Pacific islands, the United States and our closest allies are based on our common Judeo-Christian roots, love of family, open markets, and respecting fundamental human rights and freedoms — in other words, the rules-based order that the PRC and the CCP are seeking to disrupt.
I hope and pray the Pacific island nations remain wise, vigilant and courageous and do not give an inch to the PRC, the CCP and their track record of elite capture, influence operations and espionage, and reject any efforts to sign any opaque and risky trade and security agreements, which inevitably come with strings attached.
• Joseph Cella served concurrently as the U.S. ambassador to Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Tonga and Tuvalu from 2019 to 2021. A prominent Roman Catholic, Mr. Cella co-founded the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast and Catholic Vote.
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