My article was about the relationship between Fiji and the United States. Personally, I didn’t know if the United States was really involved with Fiji, so when I saw this article I was immediately intrigued. Fiji and the United States recently signed a cooperation agreement to help solve maritime activity conflicts around Fiji’s waters.
Fiji’s Minister for Defence and National Security stated that this agreement will help boost Fiji’s Navy by protecting the islands, the surrounding waters, and their overall borders. Fiji, is one of the most developed countries in the Pacific Islands and their economy is a big part of the reason why they are a more developed country. Some of their top industries include tourism, sugar, clothing, and cobra. But I believe their main contributing factors and the reason why the U.S. signed this agreement, is due to their trade exports. The main ones being oil, mineral fuels, and seafood. The problem is that the country of Fiji has been facing illicit activities, illegal fishing, narcotics and smuggling, which has and will continue to affect their economy if not dealt with. There logic is to side with a strong global power, in this case the U.S., to hopefully help them end these issues. This agreement gives the Fiji Navy the right to work under the U.S. Navy by allowing them to watch, protect, and board ships that are suspicious or breaking laws within their borders. I feel that the main reason why Fiji wanted this agreement was to have the U.S. there to protect them if they were to get in trouble or have any conflicts with other countries. However, I find this article a little odd because one of Fiji’s main trading partners is Australia. You would think that Australia would have some sort of protective agreement with Fiji, and expect Australia to be more concerned with these issues occuring due to their economic interest and their proximity to Fiji. But, if I was part of the country Fiji I would want the U.S. backing me up too. Overall this agreement is a win-win situation because Fiji gets protection of their exports and the U.S. gets protection of their economic interest in Fiji.