New Zealand would look "a little silly" if it bowed to threats
by Fiji's army chief to retaliate against sanctions imposed by New
Zealand, Prime Minister Helen Clark said Monday.
Commodore Bainimarama threatened last week to retaliate after
Parmesh Chand, the new head of the Fiji Prime Minister's Office
under Bainimarama's government, was denied entry to New Zealand to
visit his family.
Clark said Australia, Canada, the United States, the European
Union, South Africa, the United Nations, and the Commonwealth had
all taken a similar position to New Zealand in reacting strongly to
Fiji's coup.
"Frankly I think it would make New Zealand look a little silly
if we were suddenly to bow out because Bainimarama made a threat,"
Clark told New Zealand National Radio.
She said Fiji's interim leadership needed to show the
international community how it planned to return the country to
constitutional government following the coup on Dec. 5 last
year.
New Zealand banned travel here by anyone appointed to the new
administration.
(Xinhua News Agency January 22, 2007)
