"Samoa to scrap China-backed port project under new leader", 20 May 2021

Samoa's expected new prime minister has pledged to cancel a $100 million Chinese-backed port development, calling it excessive for the small Pacific island that is already heavily indebted to China.

Fiame Naomi Mataafa, the opposition leader set to become Samoa's first female prime minister after a weeks-long political impasse, said she intended to maintain good relations with China but she had more pressing needs to address than the port project. [...]

China's 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 that any help would come "without any political strings".

Tuilaepa has previously said Pacific countries only have themselves to blame if they fall into unsustainable debt.

He has described the Vaiusu wharf in parliament as a "China-funded project" that would create much-needed jobs and increase trade and tourism. Port designs and funding arrangements have not been disclosed. [...]