New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully has responded to a letter from Fiji's interim prime minister over a diplomatic row between the two countries.
Mr McCully, who sent his response to Commodore Frank Bainimarama on Thursday, is not divulging the contents or tone of the correspondence.
Commodore Bainimarama wrote to Mr McCully earlier in the week about New Zealand's travel ban on Fiji officials and their families. Mr McCully described the letter as robust.
That letter did not refer to the status of New Zealand's acting High Commissioner in Suva, Caroline McDonald, who Fiji has threatened to expel.
The threat stems from New Zealand's visa ban on members of the Fiji military and government and their families.
Fiji's interim government has threatened to send home Ms McDonald unless New Zealand grants a visa to the son of the principal secretary to Fijian President Josefa Iloilo so he can resume his studies in New Zealand.
The Government has told Fiji it has no intention of lifting the travel ban.
George Nacewa previously studied in New Zealand, but is banned from entering the country under the Government's post-coup ban on visas for top members of the ruling military and their families.
The previous high commissioner, Michael Green, was expelled in June 2007 and the latest move is being seen as a sign of a further deterioration in the relationship between the two countries.
Church row
Meanwhile, a row has erupted in Fiji between the military commander and the Methodist Church over the level of support for the interim regime's so-called People's Charter.
The document was drawn up as the government's roadmap and submitted to the public for endorsement.
According to website Fijivillage, the Methodist Church's general-secretary, the Reverend Tuikilakila Waqairatu, has described the regime's claim of 92% backing for the charter as a lie.
But Commodore Bainimarama says he does not care about the comments, adding that the charter process is now complete.
UN ban
Meanwhile, the Fiji Defence Ministry is denying any knowledge of a United Nations decision to ban the recruitment of Fijian troops for missions.
Reports of such a ban persist despite denials from the UN.
The Citizens Constitutional Forum says the UN stopped deploying Fijian peacekeepers after the 2006 coup.
But Defence Minister Ratu Epeli Ganilau admits that no troops from his country have been used for any new peacekeeping missions since 2006, but he is unaware of any formal ban.
