Editing Foreign relations of Vanuatu (section)

== History ==

===1980s: the Lini policies===

Vanuatu (formerly the [[New Hebrides]]) obtained independence from France and the [[United Kingdom]] in 1980. The country's first elected leader, Prime Minister Father [[Walter Lini]], governed Vanuatu from 1980 to 1991, and shaped its initial foreign policy in distinct ways. The key bases of Lini's foreign policy were [[neutrality (international relations)|non-alignment]] and [[anti-colonialism]], support for independence movements around the world - from faraway [[Western Sahara]] to neighbouring [[New Caledonia]], as well as [[East Timor]] and [[West Papua (region)|West Papua]], who all received Vanuatu's support at the [[United Nations]].<ref name="HUFFER, Elise 1993, pp. 272–282">HUFFER, Elise, ''Grands hommes et petites îles: La politique extérieure de Fidji, de Tonga et du Vanuatu'', Paris: Orstom, 1993, {{ISBN|2-7099-1125-6}}, pp. 272–282</ref>

Vanuatu notably angered [[Indonesia]] by allowing the [[Free Papua Movement]] to open an office in [[Port-Vila]]. Vanuatu in the 1980s was the only country in Oceania not to align with the [[Western bloc]] in the dying stages of the [[Cold War]]. Rejecting support either for the West or for the [[Eastern bloc|East]], Vanuatu joined the [[Non-Aligned Movement]] in 1983, and only established diplomatic relations with the [[Soviet Union–Vanuatu relations|Soviet Union]] and the [[United States]] in June and September 1986, respectively.<ref name="HUFFER, Elise 1993, pp. 272–282"/>

In keeping with this policy, Vanuatu established [[Vanuatu–Cuba relations|diplomatic relations with Cuba]] in 1983, and [[Vanuatu–Libya relations|with Libya]] in 1986. Lini openly condemned the [[1986 bombing of Libya]] by the United States, sending a message of condoleances to Colonel [[Muammar Gaddafi]], while [[Barak Sopé]] accused the United States of being a [[State sponsor of terrorism]]. The same accusation was levelled by Vanuatu against France after the sinking of the ''[[Rainbow Warrior (1955)|Rainbow Warrior]]''. [[United States–Vanuatu relations|Relations with the United States]] were tense until the late 1980s, when a State visit to [[Washington, D.C.|Washington]] by Lini and Foreign Affairs Minister [[Sela Molisa]] contributed to a lessening of tensions. [[France–Vanuatu relations|Relations with France]] remained strained throughout the 1980s for [[France–Vanuatu relations#1980s: off to a rocky start|a variety of reasons]].<ref>''Ibid''</ref>

Lini's government opposed [[French nuclear tests]] at [[Mururoa]], and spoke out repeatedly against [[apartheid]] in [[South Africa]]. Vanuatu was a member of the [[United Nations Special Committee against Apartheid]]. In 1990, Vanuatu's ambassador to the United Nations [[Robert Van Lierop]] remarked proudly: "I think that Vanuatu's contribution to the United Nations is somewhat disproportionate in relation to its size. [...] When the Prime Minister met [[Nelson Mandela]] in [[Namibia]], Mandela knew about Vanuatu because it has always been among the countries in the region that have most clearly spoken out on the problem of apartheid".<ref>''Ibid''</ref>

Vanuatu under Walter Lini also sought to create solid relations with [[Asia]], and, by the end of the decade, had established official diplomatic relations with the [[People's Republic of China]], [[Japan]], [[South Korea]], [[North Korea]], [[Thailand]], [[Malaysia]], [[Singapore]], [[Vietnam]] and the [[Philippines]].<ref>''Ibid''</ref>

===1990s: the Carlot Korman and Vohor years===

Following the [[1991 Vanuatuan general election|1991 general election]], the [[French language|francophone]] [[Union of Moderate Parties]] became the dominant party in Parliament, and [[Maxime Carlot Korman]] became the country's first francophone Prime Minister. He "reversed [the country's] unequivocal support for the [[Kanak Socialist National Liberation Front|Kanak National Liberation Front]] in New Caledonia, its systematic enmity towards France, its flirting with radical regimes, and its openly anti-American nuclear-free Pacific stance." Francophones held power, under Carlot Korman or [[Serge Vohor]], until 1998.<ref>William F.S. Miles, ''Bridging Mental Boundaries in a Postcolonial Microcosm: Identity and Development in Vanuatu'', Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1998, {{ISBN|0-8248-2048-7}}, pp. 25–7</ref>