SYDNEY, Oct 19, 2007 (AFP) - France on Friday backed Australia's intervention in troubled Pacific island nations, saying strong international cooperation was needed to foster growth and stability in the region.
French secretary of state for overseas territories, Christian Estrosi, in Sydney following the Pacific Island Forum summit in Tonga, rejected criticism by some nations of Australia as a heavy-handed force in the region.
The Solomon Islands has recently attacked the Australian-led assistance mission in the country, saying Canberra was using the force to benefit Australian businesses operating in the impoverished South Pacific nation.
Australia also has strained relations with Fiji and Papua New Guinea, whose Prime Minister Michael Somare last year blasted Australia's "unhelpful and heavy-handed approaches."
But Estrosi said France, together with Australia, the US, Britain and New Zealand, had much work to do in the Pacific and needed all partners to work towards ensuring sustainable development and democracy in the region.
"Within this framework, any partnership that is formed that can progress this process needs to be seen positively," he said through an interpreter.
The Pacific was so vast, so remote and beset by so many problems including environmental degradation and HIV/AIDS, Australia's help was welcome, he said.
"What we require, because we do not want to run away from that commitment to developing the region, we do require Australia to be a partner, a strong partner," he said.
"The countries themselves do not see this help as being in any way negative, on the contrary they see it as an extremely positive step towards developing in so many areas," he added.
Australia has in recent years sent forces to East Timor and the Solomon Islands to help restore law and order, prompting some to criticise Canberra as the "sheriff of the Pacific."
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