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Hokkaido University Collection of Scholarly and Academic Papers >
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Eurasia Border Review >
Vol. 9, No. 1 >
The Spirit of Minerva: Notes on a Border Dispute in the Pacific
| Title: | The Spirit of Minerva: Notes on a Border Dispute in the Pacific |
| Authors: | Waqanivala, Elisapeci Samanunu Browse this author |
| Issue Date: | 2018 |
| Publisher: | Slavic-Eurasian Research Center, Hokkaido University |
| Journal Title: | Eurasia Border Review |
| Volume: | 9 |
| Issue: | 1 |
| Start Page: | 91 |
| End Page: | 112 |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the territorial dispute between Tonga and Fiji over Minerva Reef . an atoll located in the Pacific Ocean to the south of both countries. The dispute escalated in mid-2011 when Fiji destroyed navigational beacons erected by Tonga on the reef. This paper traces the history of the dispute and explores the positions of Tonga, Fiji and other parties on the question of who owns Minerva. The paper argues that in order to understand the dynamics of the dispute, it is vital to take into account the indigenous histories of both Tonga and Fiji. These must be considered alongside the rise of British influence in the Pacific in the late nineteenth century, various developments in the United States and, finally, the adoption of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea in the 1970s. All of these factors, the paper argues, contributed to shifts in indigenous understandings of ocean boundaries and affected the parties’ positions in the dispute. |
| Type: | bulletin (article) |
| URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/2115/83538 |
| Appears in Collections: | Eurasia Border Review > Vol. 9, No. 1
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