Samoa signed a bilateral agreement with China on Saturday, promising “greater cooperation,” while Beijing’s foreign minister continues a tour of the Pacific that has raised concerns among Western allies.
The details of the deal are unclear and halfway through the trip to eight countries in a Chinese delegation, but a leaked draft agreement previously sent to several Pacific countries outlined plans to expand security and economic engagement. .
The mission has urged Western leaders to urge their regional counterparts to reject any attempt by China to extend its security reach to the region.
The Samoan government confirmed in a press release on Saturday that Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Samoan Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata’afa had met and discussed “climate change, the pandemic and peace and security. “
Local media were invited to witness the signing of an agreement, but no questions were asked. Earlier, journalists who wanted to cover the stage of Wang’s tour of the Solomon Islands for international media said that they were barred from attending press events, while those journalists who allowed them access had extremely limited capacity. limited to asking questions.
The Samoa communiqué said that China would continue to provide support for infrastructure development to various Samoan sectors and that there would be a new framework for future projects “to be determined and mutually agreed upon”.
“Samoa and the People’s Republic of China will continue to pursue greater cooperation to meet joint interests and commitments,” the statement said.
While not specifically addressing the Samoa-China deal, newly elected Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Saturday that the previous federal government had “dropped the ball” in its dealings with Pacific nations.
“The truth is that the old government had a presentation of [the department of] Foreign Affairs and Trade, backed by former Foreign Minister Marise Payne at the time, to increase aid to the Pacific, and they ignored it, “he said.
“We will be proactive in the region and we want to get involved. Australia has been the preferred partner for a long time in the Pacific and we continue to do so. “
The Chinese delegation has already visited the Solomon Islands and Kiribati this week. The delegation arrived in Samoa on Friday night and was due to leave for Fiji on Saturday afternoon, with other stops planned in Tonga, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea and East Timor.
In a duel of influence, Australia’s new foreign minister, Penny Wong, was in Fiji on Friday, seeking to seduce island states after the Solomon Islands took Canberra by surprise last month by signing a comprehensive security pact with China. The draft agreement and a five-year plan distributed to several Pacific nations would give China a greater security footprint in a region considered crucial to the interests of the U.S. and its allies.
“We have publicly expressed our concern about the security agreement,” Wong told reporters in the capital Suva.
“As other Pacific islands do, we believe there are consequences. We believe it is important that the security of the region is determined by the region. And historically it has been so. And we believe it is a good thing.”
Fiji’s prime minister praised Wong after the meeting, while slamming former Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
Frank Bainimarama said on Saturday that he had a “wonderful meeting” with Wong after traveling the country on his first solo visit abroad since he was sworn in.
“Fiji is not anyone’s backyard, we are part of a Pacific family,” Bainimarama later wrote on Twitter.
“And our biggest concern is not geopolitics, but climate change.”
He said the meeting would strengthen the Vuvale Association of Fiji and Australia, using a Fijian word meaning “friendship”.
The post included a photo of Bainimarama and Wong smiling and shaking hands.
Bainimarama appeared to be veiling former Prime Minister Morrison, who in 2019 referred to the Pacific as Australia’s “backyard”.
At the first stop in Honiara on Thursday, the Chinese Wang attacked “defamation and attacks” against the security pact already signed with the Solomon Islands.
In a harsh letter to other Pacific leaders, the President of the Federated States of Micronesia, David Panuelo, warned that the agreement seemed “attractive” at first glance, but that it would allow China to “gain access to and control of our region.” “.
On Friday, Wang met with Kiribati President Taneti Maamau to discuss fishing, education and health during the four-hour stop. Kiribati focused on trade and tourism opportunities with China and was not interested in a security deal, according to a Kiribati official, who was not authorized to speak to the media.
The official said a controversial plan to reopen a marine protected area for fishing and to improve a runway on Canton Island was not among the agreements to be signed.
Chinese state media praised the trip to Kiribati as a significant milestone in the bilateral relationship, which was only formally resumed in September 2019 after Kiribati changed Taiwan’s recognition to Beijing. According to the China Daily, Wang said China was “not only the friend of Kiribati, but also the most reliable friend of all developing countries.”
He said the two sides had agreed to increase cooperation on Covid-19 and that a Chinese medical team had arrived with the delegation to help with the pandemic response and provide health services to the people of Kiribati. The state-backed media also said the two sides had agreed to expand the development of the Strip and Route Initiative (BIS) and “maximize Kiribati’s resource advantages” and create new maritime cooperation. “from the premise of ecological protection”.
The reading did not mention security measures, but criticized the US for “obstructing China’s development”.
With Agence France-Presse and Reuters