Pacific Island nations rebuff Chinese deal

CHINA has urged Pacific Island nations not to be “too nervous” about its intentions in the region after they refused to sign a sweeping pact with Beijing.

In a high-profile diplomatic setback, Wang Yi, China’s foreign minister, yesterday failed to convince his counterparts from 10 nations, including Samoa, Tonga and Kiribati, to endorse a joint communiqué on the deal.

The proposed pact would involve Beijing training Pacific Island police, becoming involved in cyber-security, expanding political ties, conducting sensitive marine mapping and gaining greater access to natural resources on land and in the water.

In return, the nations would receive Chinese investment and market access.

The deal has caused concern in the West that China intends to assert greater control over the region, directly challenging the US and its allies.

“Don’t be too anxious and don’t be too nervous,” Mr Wang said, “because the common development and prosperity of China and all the other developing countries would only mean great harmony, greater justice and greater progress of the whole world.”

Many of the states said they needed time to study the pact. “There has been general support from the 10 countries,” Qian Bo, the Chinese ambassador to Fiji, said. “But there are some concerns.”

China has long sought to curry favour with smaller countries by saying that it will never meddle in their affairs.

In practice, however, experts have labelled projects under China’s Belt and Road strategy as “debt diplomacy”, trapping smaller, less wealthy nations under Beijing’s influence.