Tonga ditches call for islands to lobby China to end debts

TONGA’S prime minister yesterday backed down on calls for Pacific island nations to lobby China to forgive their mounting debts, after Beijing complained about the plan.

Tonga is one of eight island nations in the South Pacific carrying significant debt to China, and had started building support to cancel repayments.

Pacific nations intended to discuss the plan at a leaders’ forum on Nauru next month, Tongan Prime Minister ‘Akilisi Pōhiva said on Thursday.

In a statement yesterday, Mr Pōhiva said “after further reflection” he now believed the forum was not the proper platform to discuss Chinese debt, and that Pacific nations should each find their own solutions.

A source said Tonga had received a complaint from China shortly after Mr Pōhiva’s original remarks.

China’s lending programmes to South Pacific island nations have gone from almost zero to more than £1billion currently outstanding in a decade.