Abstract
India's foreign policy toward Fiji has had to operate under special circumstances. On the one hand, both states are fully independent and sovereign countries, respected members of the international community, and partners in the Commonwealth. On the other hand, neither country can ignore the fact that, as a result of their common Commonwealth parentage, just over 50% of Fiji's population (which numbered 618,976 in 1979) is ethnically of Indian descent.' The governing factor for Indian diplomacy in Fiji therefore is the presence of so many Indians in the country. But the matter is far from simple, for while Fiji-Indians are ethnically Indians, they are in the main Fijian nationals, subject to Fijian laws.2 India's policy in these circumstances has been to try to chart a middle course between a domineering interest in and complete indifference toward the Indian presence in Fiji. More concretely, India has aimed at taking a residual rather than a proprietary interest in the Fiji-Indians.
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