Fiji's interim prime minister Commodore Frank Bainimarama remains defiant in his decision to expel senior New Zealand and Australian diplomats from his country.
Commodore Bainimarama issued the expulsion order on Tuesday night, claiming New Zealand and Australia had interfered with the functioning of Fiji's judiciary.
New Zealand acting Head of Mission Todd Cleaver and Australian High Commissioner James Batley have been ordered to leave Suva.
Fiji's High Commissioners in New Zealand and Australia have likewise been ordered to return to Fiji immediately.
In an interview on Wednesday, Commodore Bainimarama said he had no regrets about the decision to send the New Zealand and Australian diplomats home.
"We are suspended from the Commonwealth, Australia and New Zealand have suspended us from the (Pacific Islands) Forum, so it really doesn't make any difference," he told Auckland-based Radio Tarana.
"But if we don't stand our ground, we can't afford to be bullied like this day to day."
Commodore Bainimarama has questioned what he calls both countries' lack of engagement with Fiji, claiming they are engaged in dishonest and untruthful strategies to undermine Fiji's judiciary, independent institutions and economy.
Judges independent, says Attorney General
Fiji's interim Attorney-General is rejecting a suggestion that judges appointed by the military government are not independent.
Mr McCully said the Fiji administration had appointed the judiciary for its own purposes and the New Zealand Government regards them as part of the regime for the purpose of travel sanctions.
However, Aiyaz Sayed-Khayum told Nine to Noon there is no evidence that the judiciary is being interfered with by the executive.
'Consolidated attack'
In announcing the expulsions on Tuesday night, Commodore Bainimarama accused New Zealand and Australia of a consolidated attack on Fiji's judiciary.
Problems issuing a visa for a Fiji judge whose child needed medical treatment in New Zealand and Australia's refusal to allow Sri Lankan judges working in Fiji to visit Australia, were cited as examples of this interference.
Mr McCully told Morning Report New Zealand lifted travel sanctions in the case of the judge whose child needed medical treatment and granted a visa on humanitarian grounds.
He said the issue was probably a "convenient flashpoint" from the regime's point of view.
The judge, Anjala Wati, was granted a three-month restricted visa and arrived in New Zealand on 26 October.
