AAA<\/p>\n
South of Vanuatu, in the deep ocean teeming with fish and birdlife, lie two contested islands being fought over by Vanuatu (population 350,000) and France, which has the largest EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone) in the world, totalling 11 million square kilometres.<\/p>\n
Little wonder Vanuatu is framing this as a \u201cDavid versus Goliath\u201d fight. Vanuatu calls these islands by their ancient \u201ckastom\u201d (culture) names: Umaenupne and Umaeneg. On most maps, however, they are called by what British sea captains named them: Matthew and Hunter islands. France has
controlled them since 1965.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/91462c05898174e12d21d66314c5842553ef1fa5.jpeg\")
A diplomatic stoush between Vanuatu and France over two uninhabitable islands could have global implications.Alex Ellinghausen<\/p>\n
France derives much prestige, wealth and a permanent UN Security Council seat thanks to its overseas territories and vast maritime domain, spread across multiple oceans. Now, some politicians and security analysts in France are worried that these two islands, taken from Vanuatu before its independence in 1980, could prompt sovereignty claims in other jurisdictions<\/a>, from Mexico to Madagascar, if Matthew and Hunter are returned to Vanuatu.<\/p>\n Responding to a story in Le Figaro newspaper that discussed the possibility of the French President Emmanuel Macron ceding these islands<\/a> as a \u201cmajor symbolic turning point\u201d, French far-right politician Marie Le Pen tweeted in December last year: \u201cLet\u2019s be clear: national sovereignty is not negotiable and cannot be surrendered. The French people do not expect Macron\u2019s government to carve up our overseas territories, which are real levers of power, influence and economic development, behind their backs, but to give itself the means to protect and defend them.\u201d<\/p>\n Rising in parliament this week, Vanuatu\u2019s Prime Minister Jotham Napat issued a response of sorts. He thundered that France was \u201cdragging its feet\u201d on negotiations following two postponements and was withholding relevant historical documents relating to France\u2019s claim. Macron agreed to formal negotiations to resolve the issue during his 2023 visit to Vanuatu, saying it could be \u201cresolved by Christmas\u201d. He renewed this commitment in a meeting with Napat in July 2025. Years later, there is still no resolution.<\/p>\n Napat warned last month: \u201cWe will not take a passive approach. And we will not abandon our claim. We will defend our sovereignty with determination \u2026 We have carefully evaluated all of the legal options that are available to us. We are trying the diplomatic pathway, but we are also ready to change strategy as soon as is necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n A rising tide of anger<\/p>\n The escalating rhetoric comes a week after diplomatic confrontations embroiling France, Vanuatu and New Caledonia.<\/p>\n A trade delegation from New Caledonia arrived in Port Vila earlier this month to boost economic ties but was quickly overshadowed by a diplomatic spat when one of the delegation, the new president of New Caledonia\u2019s pro-independence FLNKS (Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front) movement, Christian Tein, met with Vanuatu\u2019s PM Napat.<\/p>\n Related Article Vanuatu has long supported independence for its indigenous \u201cKanaky\u201d neighbours, and meetings between Vanuatu and the FLNKS are quite routine. But when Tein affirmed to the Vanuatu Daily Post newspaper in a front-page splash that \u201cMatthew and Hunter islands belong to Vanuatu\u201d, then France\u2019s ambassador weighed in on social media, and the New Caledonia government suspended all trade ties with Vanuatu.<\/p>\n Again, this is nothing new \u2013 indigenous Kanak chiefs have long recognised Vanuatu\u2019s claims to Matthew and Hunter islands, declaring they had no kastom links to them and France should not have included them as part of New Caledonia, which France did in 1965.<\/p>\n In 2009, Vanuatu and Kanak chiefs signed the Keamu Accord, acknowledging that Matthew and Hunter belonged to Vanuatu.<\/p>\n France finds itself battling on three fronts in the Pacific at the moment: rising independence movements in New Caledonia<\/a>, Tahiti (French Polynesia) and now an increasingly heated dispute with Vanuatu over Matthew and Hunter islands.<\/p>\n Vanuatu claims its southern islanders from Tanna, Aneityum and Futuna were regularly visiting these two disputed islands long before the first European got wet in the Pacific Ocean.<\/p>\n These islands weren\u2019t of much interest to British and French ships navigating the seas of the 18th and 19th centuries due to their small size and remoteness.<\/p>\n Both are volcanic, but only Matthew remains an active volcano.<\/p>\n Matthew (Umaenupne) was first named by British sea captain Thomas Gilbert in 1788, in tribute to the owner of his ship. Gilbert would later bequeath his name to the Gilbert and Ellice islands which today form the nation of Kiribati.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Hunter (Umaeneg) island was named by British captain Thomas Fearn aboard his trading ship Hunter in 1798. It\u2019s thought he also named it Hunter to honour Vice Admiral John Hunter, who was then the governor of NSW, the second after Arthur Phillip. Hunter Street in Sydney and the Hunter Valley are similarly named after him.<\/p>\n The Australian connection <\/p>\n The dispute over the islands primarily has its origins in the actions of another Australian, Bob Paul, who was a planter and aviation pioneer living on Tanna Island in the 1950s and 1960s, back when Vanuatu was known as the \u201ccondominium of the New Hebrides\u201d and jointly administered by Britain and France.<\/p>\n Today, Bob Paul is well remembered by chiefs on Tanna, including Peter Marcel, president of the Nikolaten Council of Chiefs. He told me that \u201cBob Paul was the first to show us how to run a business, how to run trade stores and bring in tourists. He did a lot for our island\u201d.<\/p>\n In 1962, Paul flew over Matthew and Hunter islands and, assessing from his map the two islands had not been claimed by anyone, he decided to claim them for himself and his flying friend Henri Martinet.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a bit of a lark when he claimed them,\u201d says Paul\u2019s son Brett from his home in Queensland, who remembers an idyllic childhood growing up on Tanna. \u201cBut my father always believed the islands ultimately belong to Vanuatu.\u201d<\/p>\n Paul and Martinet\u2019s claim in 1962 prompted the British and French resident commissioners to make inquiries about who the islands belonged to. The British consulted their Foreign Office, Colonial Office and admiralty.<\/p>\n They also asked France and Australia. The French then conducted internal inquiries and concluded that the islands were part of New Caledonia. Britain was content with that view, and together they wrote to the Joint Court to advise that the islands belonged to New Caledonia.<\/p>\n Related Article Paul and Martinet\u2019s claim was struck off. At no stage in the process were any Ni-Vanuatu people consulted, so the decision was made by European colonial powers before Vanuatu\u2019s independence.<\/p>\n France\u2019s claim to sovereignty over Matthew and Hunter islands has been recognised internationally ever since they were handed to the country in 1965. Vanuatu\u2019s claim is rooted in kastom and its ancient connections to the islands, long before the first French sailor turned up on their shores.<\/p>\n Vanuatu enshrined their own sovereignty over the islands in legislation upon the declaration of its independence.<\/p>\n Many would also argue that any deal done by Britain and France in the colonial period, with no consultation of the indigenous population, is legally null and void today. While a European mindset focuses on the strategic and resource value of such islands, what they ignore is the kastom value of these islands to Vanuatu.<\/p>\n A sacred connection<\/p>\n Matthew and Hunter islands play a crucial role in the kastom and spiritual life of Vanuatu\u2019s southern islanders. Indeed, these islands aren\u2019t just \u201crocks in the sea\u201d but the home of their god, Matjajiki.<\/p>\n Chiefs from Vanuatu\u2019s southern islands claim that the two islands also contain ancient cemeteries where their ancestors elected to be buried close to Matjajiki, and that these cemeteries were taboo to visitors.<\/p>\n More importantly, chiefs say they need Matjajiki, the spirit who brings them food and fish.<\/p>\n \u201cMatjajiki works to bring life to our gardens for six months every year \u2013 he is our gardening spirit. After the annual yam harvest, he eats the first yam, drinks some kava and goes to rest for the rest of the year on Umaenupne and Umaeneg,\u201d says chief Peter Marcel on Tanna.<\/p>\n \u201cWithout the power of Matjajiki, nothing would grow.\u201d<\/p>\n While the islanders all identify as Christian, their veneration of ancestral spirits and the benevolent work of Matjajiki is at the heart of their identity.<\/p>\n Magic stones can still be found in their gardens, and rituals of thanks are still performed through the cycle of yam planting and harvesting. Matthew and Hunter are important places in the cosmology, and some even say that the survival of southern Vanuatu depends on them.<\/p>\n France\u2019s possession of these islands has cut the ability of Ni-Vanuatu people to visit and pay respect to their god. When a boat carrying chiefs in 1983 to plant the Vanuatu flag and perform kastom rituals arrived at the two islands, they were intercepted by a French navy ship and forced to turn around.<\/p>\n No chiefs or ships from Vanuatu have been allowed since.<\/p>\n According to Tony Tevi, a geologist who is Vanuatu\u2019s director of oceans and marine resources, geology and tectonic plates affirm Vanuatu\u2019s ownership.<\/p>\n \u201cMatthew and Hunter sit on the Pacific plate, not the Australian plate, which New Caledonia is on. Also, there are no volcanoes in New Caledonia, but plenty here in Vanuatu.\u201d<\/p>\n For him, a further \u201cinsult\u201d comes from France conducting military exercises on the islands every year, using a place reserved for the gods as target practice.<\/p>\n \u201cThe French military visit every year with their patrol boats to claim \u2018effective occupation\u2019 and do their live firing exercises on the very place \u2013 the very place! \u2013 that for us in Vanuatu is one of the most sacred and important places. That is very unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what\u2019s making headlines around the world. Sign up for our weekly What in the World newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n![\"Vanuatu](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/0fd1ec6713e765d49dfd948517ee0df18489fd9e.jpeg\")
Vanuatu Prime Minister Jotham Napat (left) with Australian PM Anthony Albanese. Twitter <\/p>\n![\"French](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/973309dcdafc6da38edf8c3d68131d00978786f7.jpeg\")
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Christian Tein, the leader of the pro-independence movement in New Caledonia, supports Vanuatu\u2019s claim to Mattthew and Hunter islands. <\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1e127c613e8b3a5caca4b8d3797e9d45f0c5cde22ad46cfec57a0e0806ce9e78.jpeg\")
The dispute over the islands primarily has its origins in the actions of another Australian, Bob Paul, a planter and aviation pioneer living Vanuatu in the 1950s and 1960s.<\/p>\n![\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/e7879664bccdfd13dfd6a3530c9e0d4eb6ef0505.jpeg\")
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Chief Peter Marcel says the disputed islands hold deep spiritual significance to the people of Vanuatu. <\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1ff34f1f84dfb800c3a675433096d53b3a71635ec3b6c09d23a94fa596afba44.jpeg\")
A successful expedition on the island of Futuna. <\/p>\n