Tahiti, July 27, 2021
Below, is an un-official translation of a 7 minutes (56:36 – 64:45) extract of a 67 minutes speech, of French President Emmanuel Macron, while in Tahiti. Here, the French President details his vision of what the Indo Pacific is.
Tuesday, July 27, 2021
Speech by President Emmanuel Macron from Papeete.
Strategy Indo-Pacifique
56:36 [Applause]
Because yes, I want to conclude my speech thus, we have a page of ambition, of the future, to write, here, in the Pacific with an Indo-Pacific strategy that I believe in, and where the French Polynesian has an essential role to play.
Polynesians, who Caledonians, Wallisians and Futunians have an essential part in this destiny. The people of Réunion and the Mahorais also. France is an Indo-Pacific power.
And too long it took to look at our overseas face to face, we did not see, not seeing the incredible chance to be in the heart of one of the areas where the world is being made.
Ten years ago, an American president said I would be a pacific president, in the geographical sense of the word. Yes here is played, so many challenges of humanity. The geopolitical challenge, because here in the pacific, the confrontation between the two great world powers is played out.
You are at the heart, at the heart, of wars, of pressure of influence, which will increase. Being French here, in this context, is an opportunity, an opportunity.
Because we have an Indo-Pacific project, this strategy, I exposed them in the spring of 2018. It is a strategy of freedom, of the future, of sustainable development, it is a blue strategy, it is a strategy of economic development, it is a strategy of economic development, it is a strategy that preserves biodiversity, and it is a strategy that preserves the sovereignty of everyone in the pacific.
58:50 [Applause]
For this strategy, we have allies, partners: Australia, an essential partner, New Zealand, India and Japan. And we have built new partnerships in recent years with each of them, unprecedented; and here, I salute each of their leaders, who are friends, allies of France, and who love French Polynesia, and who work with you on a daily basis. Thanks to them, who are also listening to us
But I tell you very clearly, in the times that are opening up, woe betide the little ones. Woes to the isolated, woe to those who will suffer, the influences, the incursions of hegemonic power, who will come to look for their fish, their technology, their economic resources, and I tell you clearly, here it is Polynesia, but here it is France, and you will be protected.
So I say to you with the same clarity: I sometimes see projects, dare I say exotic, adventurous, with uncertain financing, with unlikely job creation, with strange investors. Beware! That is not a good idea.
60:40 [Applause]
I think.. . I look at what has happened in the region, in Vanuatu and elsewhere, the song of sirens, it is first and foremost Mediterranean, Odysseus was a victim of it, it may also be peaceful and Oceanian. Let’s tie ourselves to the mast, and hold on!
61:05 [Applause]
Friends, this Indo-Pacific strategy, it will have French Polynesia at its heart, to protect you, to protect your fishermen, to protect your economic interests, to protect our cables, to protect our satellites, to protect our sovereignty in the face of incursions. Elle will be there to protect our chosen partnerships, and never suffered. Itwill be there to protect our biodiversity, to promote our selective angling model, against the predation fishing model throughout the rest of the region. It will be there to protect our marineair, to classify them, to carry our model of biodiversity which is a Polynesian pride – you have taught us to place marine areas, to educate children to carry this culture; thatiswhy I want you to be at the heart of the World Conservation Congress in September, in Marseille with pride.
62:17 [Applause]
This Indo-Pacific strategy is also the one that protects the populations, with the (anti-cyclonic) shelters that we have put in place, 50 million investments, together with the President for 17 shelters, which protects in the face of the cyclone, events, now, right away, for the Polynesians.
This Indo-Pacific strategy is that of the energy transition, the one that will make it possible here to make renewable, to issue less, thanks to, as I announced to you, an investment fund for renewable energies of 60 million euros, which we are going to provide, between 2023 and 2026, to allow, alongside the country, projects, development. This Indo-Pacific strategy, it is economic, it is energy, it is climatic, environmental, political, and you are at the heart of it! Elle is military and she and radiation! Voil here are my friends, our future, this is this new page, this is what will create jobs for young people, pride for everyone, power in the region, and security for all!
It is this new page, which will make usproud, together, proud to be Polynesians and French; it is the one through which we will also deploy coast guard networks, with our partners in the region, diplomacy on the ground alongside the High Commissioner and the President.
This Indo-Pacific strategy, is finally sporty, because here, as you understood, I chose that the 2024 Olympics would also be Polynesian. So when the whole world is watching the wave, it will be watching us here!
64:45 [Applause]
