Testing times behind them

Tana Umaga's move to Toulon received wide publicity. Picture / Getty Images

FRANCE - Ten years ago, France and New Zealand faced off like a couple of angry pitbulls, driven to saliva-flecked hostility over the French nuclear test programme at Mururoa. Old resentments stirred and seethed: the stereotypes of France as shifty, haughty and colonial, of New Zealanders as the parish morality police.

But now, ties are friendlier than ever. France is taking to New Zealand - and through it, to the anglophone South Pacific - as never before.

"Relations between France and New Zealand are very very good nowadays. It has found its true dimension," says conservative French parliamentarian Philippe Vital. "Government-to-government relations are back where they should be, economic and commercial relationships are developing very quickly, and we're working to facilitate exchanges between business and universities."

Last Monday, France, New Zealand and Australia and the leaders of 14 other South Pacific countries pledged at a summit in Paris to beef up efforts to ensure regional stability, combat global warming, and protect fisheries.

A three-day academic conference is winding up today in Paris on the theme of New Zealand, France and the Pacific, in which several dozen experts pored over the history of friction and misunderstanding between both countries.

In November, a dozen of New Zealand's top writers will be showcased at bookshops around France in an annual event, Les Belles Etrangeres (The Beautiful Foreigners), which seeks to introduce foreign literature to French readers.

Dame Fiona Kidman, James George, Sia Fiegel, Dylan Horrocks, Chad Taylor, Jenny Bornholdt and others will tour universities and cultural associations to promote New Zealand writing. An anthology of their works will be published and distributed to libraries across France.

"For many French people, New Zealand literature was just Katherine Mansfield and Janet Frame, but Les Belles Etrangeres will bring New Zealand literature to as large a [French] population as possible," says Martine Grelle, who runs the government-funded programme. "New Zealand literature was such a discovery for us. It is very riveting."

Meanwhile, long lines of people are queuing to get into Europe's newest museum - the Quai Branly, which is devoted to ethnic art from the Pacific, Africa and South America, including spectacular Maori carvings.

Similar queues will form when tickets go on sale for the All Blacks' matches in France later this year. Last Thursday, France's top-selling sports daily L'Equipe devoted half a page to Tana Umaga, following news of his move to Toulon.

"It is great that there are some cultural things and not just rugby and yachting. I think it will lead to a wave of interest and really open doors. What's on the other side of those doors is very exciting," said Paris-based New Zealand poet Andrew Johnston.

So the days have vanished when New Zealand ranked in the French mind alongside Lapland and Tierra del Fuego as sparsely populated havens of wildlife. In its stead is a growing curiosity and an emerging perception of a vibrant culture and country that has clout within the South Pacific. Each year, some 15,000 French young people visit New Zealand as part of the work/holiday programme.

What has been driving the change is the emergence of a big zone of mutual interest. True, it only became visible after France ended its nuclear test programme in 1996, capping a deep well of animosity in the region.

But a succession of crises in fragile island nations - Fiji, the Solomons and East Timor - and more nebulous problems, such as terrorism, have shown the need for local powers to stow their differences and work together.

"There have been times, it's true, when our interests were not so convergent [and] when Australia and New Zealand had grievances against France," noted President Jacques Chirac last week.

"Today, what prevails is the natural character of perfect co-operation between France, Australia and New Zealand ... where there are no problems and no limits."

Although a medium-sized country, France is also skilful at punching beyond its weight, using its influence as a permanent member of the UN Security Council and a founder of the European Union.

Australian Foreign Minister Andrew Downer, notably, praised France for being "very supportive" of Canberra's demand for a bigger UN role in East Timor to ease the strain on Australian forces there.

The Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, Michael Somare, who is also President of the Pacific Islands Forum, said France had "completely changed in the way it deals with the Pacific Islands. There is a good sense of honesty in its dealings."

Somare singled out France for its efforts on fishery protection, saying this had helped earn it "[a] good standing with the Pacific community".

But France has also set out clear markers about the prospects for independence in its South Pacific dependencies. "No one contests the right to people's self-determination," said Chirac. "I do not have the feeling that, today, a majority of Polynesians want independence. Nor do I think that it is in their interest."