Wellington  - Fiji deported a Television New Zealand journalist on Tuesday as tensions rose over sanctions against the South Pacific island state's military regime, in a row that threatens tit-for-tat expulsions of both countries' diplomats.

Barbara Dreaver, the state-owned network's Pacific correspondent, was sent home after being arrested when she flew into Fiji's capital Suva on Monday night to cover the developing row between the two countries.

As she arrived, New Zealand Prime Minister John Key told reporters that he had sent a message to Fiji military strongman Voreqe (Frank) Bainimarama confirming a travel ban on Fijian administration officials and their families, imposed after Bainimarama seized power in a bloodless coup two years ago.

"It spells out our position, which is we have no intentions of lifting the ban on people travelling to New Zealand if they are part of the regime or associated with the regime," Key said.

He said Fiji clearly would not meet a March 2009 deadline for fresh elections as demanded by the South Pacific Forum and aid donors, and that New Zealand's position would not change until the regime took concrete steps toward democracy.

Key said that Foreign Minister Murray McCully would telephone Bainimarama Tuesday afternoon. The issue reportedly came to a head over Wellington's refusal to give a visa to the son of the official secretary to Fijian President Josefa Iloilo to resume university studies in New Zealand.

News reports said that Fiji, which expelled New Zealand's senior diplomat in June 2007, is preparing to throw out his successor, acting high commissioner Caroline McDonald, in retaliation.

If she is sent home, New Zealand is virtually certain to expel Fiji's top man in Wellington, Ponsami Chetty.

Key refused to discuss the individual case but said the situation would become more clear after McCully and Bainimarama had spoken. (dpa)