[75] Radio Australia noted that he had been "the star of this year's meeting, for the people of Tonga",[76] while TVNZ reported that he had been "given a hero's welcome".
[77] In terms of inter-governmental relations, Tonga has generally avoided pressuring Fiji's "interim government" into holding democratic elections.
However, Tongan Prime Minister Dr. Feleti Sevele has urged Bainimarama "to produce a credible roadmap to the election according to the Constitution and law of Fiji".
In his heads of foreign ministries of Russia and Tonga expressed confidence in further development of Russian-Tongan relations in the interests of the peoples of both countries and strengthen peace and security in the Asia-Pacific region.
The mass conversion of most Tongans to Christianity – and primarily to Wesleyan Methodism – resulted in strong religious ties to England as the source of most of the missionaries involved.
Indeed, it was in part through the assistance of the English missionary Shirley Baker (who baptized him) that George Tupou I established the current Tonga constitutional monarchy in 1875.
[91] While always remaining independent, Tonga became a British protected state under the so-called Treaty of Friendship on 18 May 1900, when European settlers and rival Tongan chiefs tried to oust the second king.
The Treaty of Friendship and protected state status ended only in 1970 under arrangements established during the reign of Tonga's third monarch, Queen Sālote.
The mass conversion of most Tongans to Christianity – and primarily to Wesleyan Methodism – resulted in strong religious ties to England as the source of most of the missionaries involved.
Indeed, it was in part through the assistance of the English missionary Shirley Baker (who baptized him) that George Tupou I established the current Tonga constitutional monarchy in 1875.
While always remaining independent, Tonga became a British protected state under the so-called Treaty of Friendship on 18 May 1900, when European settlers and rival Tongan chiefs tried to oust the second king.
This protected the Tongan monarchy from European or other colonizing powers in return for a special relationship with the United Kingdom.
The Treaty of Friendship and protected state status ended only in 1970 under arrangements established during the reign of Tonga's third monarch, Queen Sālote.
[96] In May 2023, the United States announced plans to establish an embassy in Tonga, as part of a larger regional push to strengthen ties with the Pacific.