Audio: Phil Goff visits the Solomon Islands
Scoop Audio: Phil Goff visits the
Solomon Islands
Recording by Yasmine Ryan
Image by Jason Dorday
From Assignment in Honiara
Goff surveys
Chinatown
Scoop Audio: New
Zealand Defence Minister Phil Goff speaking from the Solomon
Islands International Airport on Thursday 27 April. Goff
reinstated New Zealand’s commitment to the Solomon Islands
through its participation in the RAMSI partnership. The MP
was critical of ‘chequebook diplomacy’, although he said he
was yet to see any evidence that Taiwan had bribed Solomon
Islands politicians. Spelling out New Zealand’s long-term
commitments, Goff said ‘We have to change the underlying
culture of what the process of government is about.’ At the
same time, he asserted RAMSI’s political
neutrality.
ENDS