The proposed construction of the wharf in Vaiusu Bay has been a matter of contention in Samoa.
Sydney:
The expected new Prime Minister of Samoa has pledged to cancel a $ 100 million port development backed by China, calling it excessive for the small Pacific island already heavily indebted to China.
Fiame Naomi Mataafa, opposition leader set to become Samoa’s first female prime minister after a weeks-long political stalemate, said she intends to maintain good relations with China, but that ‘it had more urgent needs to be met than the port project.
The wharf construction project in Vaiusu Bay was a point of contention in Samoa, playing a role in the April elections where longtime leader Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi lost his parliamentary majority.
The project has also threatened to spark waterfront competition in the Pacific as the United States and its allies respond to China’s growing influence in the region.
Fiame is expected to become the leader after Samoa’s highest court ruled on a challenge to the election result on Monday.
Samoa is a small country. Our seaports and airports meet our needs,” Fiame told Reuters by phone from Samoa’s capital Apia.
“It is very difficult to imagine that we would need the scale proposed in this particular project when there are more urgent projects that the government needs to prioritize.”
His position marks a decisive break with Tuilaepa, on whom China has counted as a close ally during his two decades at the helm.
Our government’s level of indebtedness to the Chinese government was an urgent issue for voters,” said Fiame, a former deputy prime minister who joined the opposition FAST party last year.
Her government would maintain good relations with China and the United States, she added.
The United States and other Western countries have criticized China for making loans to poorer countries for infrastructure projects that risk burdening them with unsustainable debt. China rejects the criticism.
READ North Korean denuclearization, no more vaccines: South Korea's schedule for Biden summit
China is the largest creditor of Samoa, a country of 200,000 people, accounting for about 40%, or some 160 million dollars, of its foreign debt.
FINAL STEPS
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a regular briefing in Beijing that the Samoan government had asked China to conduct a feasibility study for the port, and any help would come “without no political constraint “.
Tuilaepa has previously said that Pacific countries only have to blame each other if they fall into unsustainable debt.
He described the Vaiusu Wharf in parliament as a “China-funded project” that would create much-needed jobs and increase trade and tourism. Port design and financing arrangements were not disclosed.
The project was in the final stages of negotiations with China, with work expected to begin when international borders reopen, according to a January report in the Samoa Observer, citing Tuilaepa.
Tuilaepa’s office did not respond to questions.
Fiame’s government could be formed as early as Friday, although legal challenges could cause delays.
READ Who is Yair Lapid, the future prime minister of Israel?
Samoa, which depends on subsistence agriculture, as well as tourism, fish and coconut product exports, had turned to larger nations for development finance even before the pandemic of coronavirus does not disrupt trade and suspend tourism.
The port of Vaiusu is close to the main port of Apia in Matautu, which was recently expanded with the help of Japan.
However, China’s investment has attracted increased interest and criticism.
Facilities that could be turned into military assets pose a challenge to the United States and its regional allies, which have dominated influence in the world’s largest ocean since 1945.
Reuters reported this month that China was supporting a plan to upgrade an airstrip on one of Kiribati’s remote Pacific islands, deep in territory generally aligned with the United States.
Sydney:
The expected new Prime Minister of Samoa has pledged to cancel a $ 100 million port development backed by China, calling it excessive for the small Pacific island already heavily indebted to China.
Fiame Naomi Mataafa, opposition leader set to become Samoa’s first female prime minister after a weeks-long political stalemate, said she intends to maintain good relations with China, but that ‘it had more urgent needs to be met than the port project.
The wharf construction project in Vaiusu Bay was a point of contention in Samoa, playing a role in the April elections where longtime leader Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi lost his parliamentary majority.
The project has also threatened to spark waterfront competition in the Pacific as the United States and its allies respond to China’s growing influence in the region.
Fiame is expected to become the leader after Samoa’s highest court ruled on a challenge to the election result on Monday.
Samoa is a small country. Our seaports and airports meet our needs,” Fiame told Reuters by phone from Samoa’s capital Apia.
“It is very difficult to imagine that we would need the scale proposed in this particular project when there are more urgent projects that the government needs to prioritize.”
His position marks a decisive break with Tuilaepa, on whom China has counted as a close ally during his two decades at the helm.
Our government’s level of indebtedness to the Chinese government was an urgent issue for voters,” said Fiame, a former deputy prime minister who joined the opposition FAST party last year.
Her government would maintain good relations with China and the United States, she added.
The United States and other Western countries have criticized China for making loans to poorer countries for infrastructure projects that risk burdening them with unsustainable debt. China rejects the criticism.
READ North Korean denuclearization, no more vaccines: South Korea's schedule for Biden summit
China is the largest creditor of Samoa, a country of 200,000 people, accounting for about 40%, or some 160 million dollars, of its foreign debt.
FINAL STEPS
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a regular briefing in Beijing that the Samoan government had asked China to conduct a feasibility study for the port, and any help would come “without no political constraint “.
Tuilaepa has previously said that Pacific countries only have to blame each other if they fall into unsustainable debt.
He described the Vaiusu Wharf in parliament as a “China-funded project” that would create much-needed jobs and increase trade and tourism. Port design and financing arrangements were not disclosed.
The project was in the final stages of negotiations with China, with work expected to begin when international borders reopen, according to a January report in the Samoa Observer, citing Tuilaepa.
Tuilaepa’s office did not respond to questions.
Fiame’s government could be formed as early as Friday, although legal challenges could cause delays.
READ Who is Yair Lapid, the future prime minister of Israel?
Samoa, which depends on subsistence agriculture, as well as tourism, fish and coconut product exports, had turned to larger nations for development finance even before the pandemic of coronavirus does not disrupt trade and suspend tourism.
The port of Vaiusu is close to the main port of Apia in Matautu, which was recently expanded with the help of Japan.
However, China’s investment has attracted increased interest and criticism.
Facilities that could be turned into military assets pose a challenge to the United States and its regional allies, which have dominated influence in the world’s largest ocean since 1945.
Reuters reported this month that China was supporting a plan to upgrade an airstrip on one of Kiribati’s remote Pacific islands, deep in territory generally aligned with the United States.
