The New Caledonian's better be careful for what they wish for -...

The New Caledonian's better be careful for what they wish for - the massive subsidies they get from the French, like Tahiti, means that have metropolitan France incomes - backed by the French Euro - independence would create a new third world country and its mineral resources will be a lot cheaper.
As long as Australia doesn't step in a bankroll them like we do in PNG, then now harm done. Let the Chinese come, but they placed their bets on Indonesia, and thats money spent on a far more vital Geostrategic nation, who is destined to become the 5th largest economy in the world by 2050.
Nothing that happens in NC will save TECH - it will need a deep freeze for a decade or 2 ?