Samoa signed a bilateral agreement with China on Saturday, promising “greater co-operation” as Beijing’s foreign minister continues a tour of the Pacific that has caused concern among Western allies.
Details of the deal are unclear, coming in the middle of a Chinese delegation’s trip to eight countries – but an earlier expired draft agreement sent to several Pacific countries outlines plans to expand security and economic commitment.
The mission prompted Western leaders to urge their regional counterparts to reject any attempt by China to expand its security in the region.
The Samoan government confirmed in a press release on Saturday that Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Samoan Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mataafa had met and discussed “climate change, pandemic and peace and security”.
Local media were invited to witness the signing of the deal, but no questions were asked. Earlier, journalists seeking to cover Wang’s tour of Solomon Islands international publications said they had been barred from attending press conferences, while those journalists allowed access were severely limited in their ability to ask questions.
The Samoa statement said China would continue to support infrastructure development in various sectors of Samoa and would have a new framework for future projects “to be identified and mutually agreed”.
“Samoa and the People’s Republic of China will continue to strive for greater cooperation that will fulfill common interests and commitments,” the statement said.
Although he did not specifically address the Samoa-China agreement, newly elected Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Saturday that the previous federal government had “dropped the ball” in its relations with the Pacific.
“The truth is that the previous government had a proposal from [the department of] “Foreign and trade, backed by then-foreign minister Mariz Payne, for increased aid in the Pacific, but they ignored it,” he said.
“We will be proactive in the region and we want to get involved. Australia has been the chosen 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 expected to be Tonga, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea and East Timor.
In a duel for influence, Australia’s new foreign minister, Penny Wong, was in Fiji on Friday trying to woo island nations after the Solomon Islands surprised Canberra last month by signing a comprehensive security pact with China. The draft agreement and five-year plan, spread to several Pacific nations, will give China a greater security footprint in a region seen as crucial to the interests of the United States and its allies.
“We have publicly expressed our concern about the security agreement,” Wong told reporters in the capital, Suva.
“Like other Pacific islands, we believe there are consequences. We believe that it is important for the security of the region to be determined by the region. And historically this has been the case. And we think that’s a good thing. “
The Fijian Prime Minister praised Wong after the meeting, while also hitting former Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
Frank Bainimarama said on Saturday that he had a “wonderful meeting” with Wong after she traveled to the country on her first solo overseas visit since taking the oath.
“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 Fiji-Australia Vuvale partnership, using a Fijian word meaning “friendship”.
The post included a photo of Bainimarama and Wong smiling and shaking hands.
Baynimarama appears to have struck a thin veil against former Prime Minister Morrison, who in 2019 called the Pacific “Australia’s backyard.”
At the first stop in Honiara on Thursday, China’s Wang attacked “slander and attacks” against the already signed security pact with the Solomon Islands.
In a stern letter to fellow Pacific leaders, the President of the Federated States of Micronesia, David Panuello, warned that the agreement seemed “attractive” at first glance, but would allow China to “gain access and control over our region”.
On Friday, Wang met with Kiribati President Tanetti Maamau to discuss fisheries, education and health during the four-hour stop. According to a Kiribati spokesman who is not authorized to speak to the media, Kiribati is focusing on trade and tourism opportunities with China and is not interested in a security agreement.
The official said a controversial plan to reopen a protected sea area for fishing and to renovate the canton’s summer runway was not among the agreements to be signed.
Chinese state media praised the trip to Kiribati as an important stage in bilateral relations, which officially resumed only in September 2019, after Kiribati passed the recognition from Taiwan to Beijing. According to China Daily, Wang said that China is “not only a friend of Kiribati, but also the most reliable friend of all developing countries.”
It said the two sides had agreed to step up co-operation on Covid-19 and that a Chinese medical team had arrived with the delegation to help respond to the pandemic and provide health services to the people of Kiribati. The state-backed publication also said the two sides had agreed to expand the One Belt One Road (BRI) initiative and “give full play to Kiribati’s resource advantages” and establish new maritime co-operation. under the precondition of environmental protection ‘.
The report does not mention security measures, but criticizes the United States for “hindering China’s development.”
With Agence France-Presse and Reuters
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