やしの実通信 by Dr Rieko Hayakawa

太平洋を渡り歩いて35年。島と海を国際政治、開発、海洋法の視点で見ていきます。

フィジークーデターの真相・マホガニーを巡る英米中の暗躍

中国の一帯一路。過去の英米日仏等々の植民地拡大と大差ないどころか、中国より酷いと思うことが多々ある。

久しぶりに訪ねたフィジーで以前から気になっていたクーデターの背景を改めて調べた。背後にはマホガニー投資をめぐる英米の駆け引き。フィジー国内政治。そして中国の存在もあるのだ。

参考にしたのは2つの論文。かなり関連論文は出ている。

The Mahogany King's Brief Reign. By Joseph Kahn. New York Times. September 14, 2000.

Anthony van Fossen. "George Speight's Coup in Fiji and White-Collar Crime in Queensland". Queensland Review. Vol. 7 No. 1 (2000)

非常に簡単にまとめると、1970年に独立したフィジー経済を支えたのが松のチップ輸出。80年代だ。輸出先は日本だった。しかし儲けにならない。旧宗主国英国は松だけでなくマホガニーの植林もすすめており、これに目をつけたのが米国シアトルのビジネスマン。フィジーで手を組んだのが、クーデターを起こしたジョージ・スペイトだ。これは木材輸出というより、儲かるぞ!と関係者を唆して投資を煽る事業だった。ここに英国が絡んでくる。当初スペイトの支持者だったインド系首相のチョードリーが、サトウキビをめぐる英国の支援を得るために、このマホガニービジネスに食指を動かした英国に利益を渡そうとする。なんと、フィジーの米国大使館と英国政府がそこに深く関与するのだ。内政不干渉の原則なんて糞食らえ!そこでスペイトのクーデターがおこった。しかしこの二人、家族同士の長い友達だ。クーデターを鎮圧し、命まで狙われた軍人バイニマラマの功績を無視して一度お縄にしたスペイトを釈放しようとした。そこで2006年のクーデターと今に続くバイニマラマ政権が誕生したのである。

ここで話は終わらない。ジョージ・スペイトの怪しい背景がある。中華系フィジー外交官James Ah Koyの存在だ。彼とジョージ・スペイトの家族も近い。ジョージはAh Koyの支援で米国ミシガンで大学教育を受けMBAを得る。卒業後Ah Koyのフィジー、豪州などの会社で働き、怪しい投資にも関与する。Ah Koyは中国の大使も務める。

フィジーと中国が接近していった背景には、マホガニー利権をめぐる英米の争いと、中国系フィジー人政治家にしてビジネスマンが育てたクーデター首謀者ジョージ・スペイトの存在があるのだ。

 


China's One Belt, One Road. Not only is it not much different from the past colonial expansion of Britain, the U.S., Japan, France, etc., but I often think it is worse than China.

In Fiji, which I visited for the first time in a while, I looked again into the background of the coup d'état that had been bothering me for some time. Behind the coup d'état, I found the bargaining between the U.K. and the U.S. over the mahogany investment. Fiji's domestic politics. And there is also the presence of China.

I referred to two papers. There are quite a few related papers out there.

The Mahogany King's Brief Reign. By Joseph Kahn. New York Times. September 14, 2000.

Anthony van Fossen. "George Speight's Coup in Fiji and White-Collar Crime in Queensland". Queensland Review. Vol. 7 No. 1 (2000).

To summarize very briefly, pine chip exports supported Fiji's economy after independence in 1970. The export destination was Japan. But it was not profitable. The former sovereign nation of Great Britain was promoting the planting of mahogany trees as well as pine trees, and a businessman from Seattle, USA, took notice of this. The man who joined hands with him in Fiji was George Speight, the man who staged the coup d'etat. This is not so much about exporting timber as about making money! and to encourage investment. This is where the British came into the picture. Indian Prime Minister Chaudhry, who was initially a supporter of Speight, tried to pass on the profits to the British, who were attracted to the mahogany business in order to gain British support for sugarcane. What a surprise, the U.S. Embassy in Fiji and the British government are deeply involved in it. To hell with the principle of non-interference in internal affairs! So Speight's coup d'etat was set in motion. But these two men are longtime family friends. They tried to release Speight, who had once been thrown in jail, ignoring the achievements of Bainimarama, the military officer who had suppressed the coup and even threatened his life. This led to the 2006 coup d'état and the Bainimarama regime that continues to this day.

The story does not end here. There is the dubious background of George Speight. There is the Chinese Fijian diplomat James Ah Koy. He and George Speight's families are also close. George received his college education and MBA in Michigan, USA, with Ah Koy's support. Ah Koy is also the ambassador to China.

The background to Fiji and China's growing proximity is the Anglo-American struggle over the Mahogany concession and the coup mastermind George Speight, a Chinese-Fijian politician and businessman raised by the businessman.