Fiji woos China for upgrade of ‘strategically important’ ports even as debt concerns mount

Fiji is ‘strategically important’ for Pacific maritime routes and its deep water port access appeals to Beijing amid stronger competition in the Pacific

But Fiji faces mounting debt woes, and there is no guarantee of fast friendship with the Pacific Islands even if Beijing steps up financial support

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Locals sit on a wall situated on the foreshore of the harbour in the Fiji capital of Suva. Fiji’s deep water port access appeals to Beijing as the contest for influence across the Pacific heats up. Photo: Reuters

Published: 8:30am, 29 Nov 2023Updated: 11:36am, 29 Nov 2023

Fiji’s deal to partner China to develop its ports and shipbuilding industry has raised questions over the wider security implications of waving in Belt and Road Initiative projects, experts say, as well as fears over who picks up the tab in small, indebted Pacific nations.

With an economy worth just US$4.8 billion and home to fewer than 1 million people, Fiji sits in waters between Australia and Hawaii, where deep water port access appeals to Beijing as the contest for influence across the Pacific heats up.

Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka last week announced the “potential collaboration with China” to modernise port facilities and shipyards, adding Beijing’s global security outlook and Belt and Road Initiative “aligns with our nation’s development agenda”.

Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka in San Francisco, where the two leaders met on the sidelines of the Apec summit. Photo: Xinhua

That statement, which followed a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Apec summit in San Francisco, appeared to unexpectedly tread away from long-term security ties with Australia, New Zealand and the United States, bonds put on a surer footing since

Fiji suspended a police training deal with Beijing earlier this year.

“Like many Pacific leaders, Rabuka senses that this time in the geostrategic light is an opportunity to boost livelihoods through an emphasis on commercial relations,” said Henryk Szadziewski, affiliate at the Center for Pacific Islands Studies at the University of Hawaii. “If he can achieve this goal, it would provide an interesting template for other states attempting to control polarising power politics.”

While Western nations are left speculating over the motivation of Rabuka’s China pivot, analysts say simple pragmatism is at play.