A regional security academic says the military in Fiji is a huge drain on the country's economy but can't see numbers being cut back in the near future.
Paul Sinclair spoke recently at a symposium held in Wellington on the New Zealand government's review of its defence policy through the Defence White Paper and raised a number of issues around New Zealand's relationship with the Pacific.
Mr Sinclair, who's based at Victoria University's Centre for Strategic Studies, says the 2005 draft Defence White Paper in Fiji actually proposed a considerable shrinking of the Fiji military.
"Regrettably that defence white paper was bitterly opposed by the Fiji military and it never made it out of the draft stage. One might conclude that it was one of the contributing factors in the coup that followed in 2006."
Photo: AFP
