Samoa’s new PM Mataafa confirms cancellation of US$100 million China-funded port
- The island nation’s first female leader said Beijing’s interest in the Pacific had grown as Washington effectively ‘moved out’ of the region
- China’s proposed construction of a wharf in Vaiusu Bay had played a part in the April 9 disputed election
Fiame Naomi Mataafa indicated she would only approve investments that had clear benefits for her country as she expressed doubts about the upside for the Pacific in being a pawn in a geopolitical tussle between the two superpowers.
Mataafa said China’s interest in the Pacific had grown as the US effectively “moved out” of the region.
“There seems to be a renewed interest in the Pacific, which may be a good thing, but not necessarily,” Mataafa said in an interview over Zoom on Wednesday, days after her election was confirmed, ending a months-long political crisis.
Samoa, an island nation of around 200,000 reliant on subsistence farming, along with tourism, fish, coconut product exports and foreign remittance, has found itself exposed it to external geopolitical jostling, as the US and its allies respond to a more assertive China in Pacific waters that have been largely uncontested since second world war.