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China, Australia donate buildings, airstrips in Pacific influence race

by Reuters

   China has donated a presidential building complex in Vanuatu while
   Australia and New Zealand inaugurated an airfield in neighboring
   Solomon Islands, amid competition for influence in the Pacific Islands
   region.

   New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters was in Solomon Islands on
   Tuesday to hand over the $36.55 million airfield in Western Province
   funded by New Zealand and Australia.

   Solomon Islands Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele, also at the ceremony,
   is expected to travel soon to China, after visiting [1]Australia last
   week on his first overseas visit in the role.

   Manele told media after returning to Solomon Islands on Saturday that
   Solomon Islands had asked Australia to fund the recruitment of local
   police over the next decade, so the nation could "look after ourselves"
   for domestic security.

   Solomon Islands has security ties with China and Australia, although
   the new government elected in April is reviewing its security
   arrangements, Manele said.

   Hu Chunhua, vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese
   People's Political Consultative Conference, took part in a ceremony in
   Vanuatu on Monday to hand over a presidential office, and finance and
   foreign ministry buildings built by China in Vanuatu's capital Port
   Vila.

   A boat donated by Australia to Vanuatu's police force, to boost
   [2]maritime surveillance arrived in Port Vila this week, Australia's
   High Commission said in a statement.

   China is the largest external creditor to Vanuatu after a decade of
   infrastructure building, while Australia is its biggest aid donor.

   Hu also last week visited the biggest Pacific Island nation, Papua New
   Guinea, which has defense ties with the United States.

   "China is committed to developing friendly cooperation with Pacific
   Island countries, including Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands," China's
   foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said Tuesesday at a regular press
   briefing in Beijing.

   Reuters is a news agency founded in 1851 and owned by the Thomson
   Reuters Corporation based in Toronto, Canada. One of the world's
   largest wire services, it provides financial news as well as
   international coverage in over 16 languages to more than 1000
   newspapers and 750 broadcasters around the globe.

References

   1. https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL4N3IN1OW&linkedFromStory=true
   2. https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL3N3FJ27T&linkedFromStory=true