Samoa is expected to welcome the Pacific island nation’s first government prime minister. Opposition leader Fiame Naomi Mataafa said she would seek to maintain good relations with Beijing when she takes office, but would shelve plans for a $100 million Chinese investment in a port.
In a telephone interview with Reuters, Fiame said, “It’s hard to imagine that we need a port of this magnitude that is planned to be built when the government needs to turn its attention to projects that are desperately needed. For our constituents, the level of debt that our government owes to the Chinese government is a pressing issue.”
China is Samoa’s largest debtor country. Samoa’s population is only 200,000. About 40 percent of the island nation’s foreign debt is owed to China, about $160 million.
Both the U.S. Biden administration and the former Trump administration have warned some poor countries to be cautious in accepting Chinese funds or fall into China’s debt trap and even lose their sovereignty.
Prime Minister Tuilaepa of Samoa, who lost the parliamentary elections in April, has said that the Pacific island nations have only themselves to blame if they fall into unsustainable debt problems. He also said the proposed “Chinese-funded” port construction project would create much-needed jobs and boost trade and tourism.
China has accelerated its investments in the Pacific islands in recent years and has successfully lured the region’s Solomon Islands and Kiribati to break off diplomatic relations with Taiwan in favor of mainland China.
In addition to this political aim, observers say Beijing is seeking to build ports in the region that could later be used to berth large warships, directly threatening the security interests of the United States and its allies Australia and New Zealand.
Beijing has rejected accusations that China is setting up a debt trap there or building a port for future military use. China’s ambassador to Samoa, Chao Xiaoliang, published an article in a local newspaper in March, saying that China’s enhanced ties with Samoa are aimed at boosting the country’s economic growth and benefiting all Samoans.
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