Editing Foreign relations of Vanuatu (section)

== Foreign policy issues ==

=== Aid ===

Since 1980, Australia, the United Kingdom, France, and New Zealand have provided the bulk of Vanuatu's development aid. As of March 2008, Australia was Vanuatu's biggest aid provider, followed by France.<ref>[http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/fr/pays-zones-geo_833/vanuatu_580/france-vanuatu_3395/index.html "La France et le Vanuatu"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120309153010/http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/fr/pays-zones-geo_833/vanuatu_580/france-vanuatu_3395/index.html |date=9 March 2012 }}, French Ministry of Foreign Affairs</ref> A number of other countries, including [[Japan]], [[Canada]], [[Germany]], and various multilateral organizations, such as the [[Economic and Social Council for Asia and the Pacific]], the [[UN Development Programme]], the Asian Development Bank, the [[European Economic Community]], and the [[Commonwealth Development Corporation]] also provide developmental aid. The [[United States]], Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, South Korea and Japan also send volunteers. Since the mid-2000s, Cuba has been a noted provider of medical aid.

===Support to the right of self-determination===

Vanuatu continues to promote the right to [[self-determination]]. In 1980s [[Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic|SADR]] and [[Palestine]] was recognized.{{citation needed|date=August 2020}} Later, Vanuatu recognized [[Kosovo]] in 2010 and [[Abkhazia]] in 2011.{{citation needed|date=August 2020}} Vanuatu is the only country in the world that recognizes all four of these states.{{Time needed|date=April 2021}} In addition, Vanuatu strongly supports the [[Free Papua Movement]] and its program of self-determination of [[West Papua (region)|West Papua]], a region in [[Indonesia]], in the midst of [[Papua conflict]]. Vanuatu's bringing up the issue at international forums has brought sharp rebukes from Indonesia; according to its diplomats, "it is shameful that [Vanuatu has an] excessive and unhealthy obsession about how Indonesia should govern itself" and states that Vanuatu is "not a representation of the people of Papua, and stop fantasising of being one."<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/427114/indonesia-lashes-out-at-vanuatu-over-west-papua-at-the-un| title = Indonesia lashes out at Vanuatu over West Papua at the UN| website = [[Radio New Zealand]]| date = 28 September 2020}}</ref>

====''Wantok Blong Yumi Bill''====

In June 2010, the [[Parliament of Vanuatu]] unanimously gave its support to a motion – the [[Wantok Blong Yumi Bill]] – clarifying Vanuatu's foreign policy with regards to West Papuan independence claims from Indonesia. The bill, tabled by Independent MP [[Ralph Regenvanu]] and supported by Prime Minister [[Edward Natapei]] and opposition leader [[Maxime Carlot Korman]], committed Vanuatu to recognising West Papua's independence; to seeking observer status for West Papua in the [[Melanesian Spearhead Group]] and in the [[Pacific Islands Forum]]; and to "request[ing] [United Nations] [[United Nations General Assembly|General Assembly]] support for the [[International Court of Justice]] to provide an advisory opinion on the process in which the former [[Dutch New Guinea]] was ceded to Indonesia in the 1960s".<ref name="RNZI_54332">{{cite web |url=http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=54332 |title=Vanuatu to seek UN General Assembly support for ICJ opinion on Indonesia's Papua |date=23 June 2010 |work=[[Radio New Zealand International]] |access-date=30 September 2011}}</ref><ref>[http://www.governmentofvanuatu.gov.vu/news.html "Vanuatu’s Parliament Pass Bill in Support for West Papua"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100724142105/http://www.governmentofvanuatu.gov.vu/news.html |date=24 July 2010 }}, Government of Vanuatu</ref><ref>[http://pacific.scoop.co.nz/2010/06/vanuatu-to-seek-observer-status-for-west-papua-at-msg-and-pif-leaders-summits/ "Vanuatu to seek observer status for West Papua at MSG and PIF leaders summits"], ''Pacific Scoop'', 22 June 2010</ref>