Macron in New Caledonia: Will surprise visit quell tensions on French Pacific island?

François PICARD | Alessandro XENOS | Imen MELLAZ | Rebecca GNIGNATI | David CAMROUX | David Chappell | Patricia O'Brien | Fred Constant

Edité par France 24 - 2024

The last time New Caledonia witnessed this kind of eruption was the 1980s. Then, too, it was electoral reform that lit the spark. It ended with a carefully-worded deal that granted a special status to an overseas collectivity which the United Nations still lists to this day as an occupied colony.

We ask what it means in the 21st century to fly a French flag in a land that’s more than 17,000 kilometres from Paris. Remember: the majority like it that way. And how strategic is a South Pacific island that's in Australia's backyard, in waters patrolled by the United States and coveted by China?

Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Imen Mellaz. 

Note
  • He has literally gone halfway around the world. Now what can President Emmanuel Macron do with his surprise visit to New Caledonia? Critics see deadly riots in the French Pacific island as a crisis of his government's own making, with an electoral reform that indigenous Kanaks say dilutes their voice in upcoming provincial elections. Sovereignists loyal to Paris point to longstanding residents who do not have the right to vote.

Langue
anglais
Date de publication
22/05/2024
Collection
The Debate
Contributeurs
David CAMROUX Senior Research Fellow, Sciences Po Paris / CERI
David Chappell Professor of Pacific History, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa
Patricia O'Brien Historian, Asian Studies Program, Georgetown University
Fred Constant Former French Diplomat

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