Macron in New Caledonia: Will surprise visit quell tensions on French Pacific island?

The Debate

He has literally gone halfway around the world. Now what can President Emmanuel Macron do with his surprise visit to New Caledonia? Critics see deadly riots in the French Pacific island as a crisis of his government's own making, with an electoral reform that indigenous Kanaks say dilutes their voice in upcoming provincial elections. Sovereignists loyal to Paris point to longstanding residents who do not have the right to vote.

The last time New Caledonia witnessed this kind of eruption was the 1980s. Then, too, it was electoral reform that lit the spark. It ended with a carefully-worded deal that granted a special status to an overseas collectivity which the United Nations still lists to this day as an occupied colony.

We ask what it means in the 21st century to fly a French flag in a land that’s more than 17,000 kilometres from Paris. Remember: the majority like it that way. And how strategic is a South Pacific island that's in Australia's backyard, in waters patrolled by the United States and coveted by China?

Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Imen Mellaz.