China's whirlwind diplomatic blitz of the Pacific has caused deep concern amid some of the region's island nations. 9News
The diplomatic rivalry between Australia and China showed no sign of abating on Thursday as Foreign Minister Penny Wong and her Chinese counterpart paid separate visits to island nations.
Samoan Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata'afa said she wanted to make clear that while Samoa had signed some bilateral agreements with China, it hadn't favoured inking the big multilateral deal — at least not right away."Our position was that you cannot have regional agreement when the region hasn't met to discuss it," she said.
Fiji's Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama has been even more blunt, tweeting "The Pacific needs genuine partners, not superpowers that are super-focused on power." Meanwhile, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Papua New Guinea to meet with leaders there on the penultimate stop of an eight-nation regional tour.
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