The long-running dispute over the Matthew and Hunter Islands, which sit between New Caledonia and Vanuatu, flared again recently with the visit of a French warship.
The dispute has been going on for decades, and tempers flared when the French crew painted the tricolour flag on a large rock in January.
That led to calls for Vanuatu to expel French diplomats.
Vanuatu's foreign minister rejected those calls, instead calling for negotiations with Paris to resume.