Following the report of damning comments about Tonga by a New Zealand Cabinet Minister and his associate in the New Zealand press, Matangi Tonga tried to arrange a telephone interview with the New Zealand Minister for Foreign Affairs, Hon. Phil Goff and the Associate Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Matt Robson. After trying repeatedly for several days, we were unable to get a clarification from Robson who was the most aggressive in his accusations against the Tongan government and Royal Family. Mr Goff, however, replied to emailed questions, as follows. From Matangi Tonga Magazine Vol. 17, no. 1, May 2002.
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Thursday 30 May 2002
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Nuku‘alofa, Tonga
Tongans responded with shock and outrage after the New Zealand Foreign Ministry publicly accused the Tongan government of corruption, expressing concern about the state of democracy in the country and saying that the Tongan government appeared reluctant to introduce constitutional changes. From Matangi Tonga Magazine Vol. 17, no. 1, May 2002.
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Thursday 30 May 2002
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Nuku‘alofa, Tonga
Tonga’s Prime Minister announced on February 14 that there was a serious turn in Tonga’s relationship with New Zealand in the wake of unsubstantiated accusations made by New Zealand’s foreign ministry. The Prime Minister Prince ‘Ulukalala Lavaka Ata believed that a New Zealand Ministerial attack which ridiculed the Tongan government and Tonga’s Royal family was an attempt to influence Tonga’s March General Election, and “to take the moral high ground, to say they are holier than us, and to dictate to other countries what New Zealand wants”. Prince ‘Ulukalala Lavaka Ata was responding to the accusations at a press conference he called in Nuku‘alofa. From Matangi Tonga Magazine Vol. 17, no. 1, May 2002.
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