China offers Pacific Islands more support in addressing climate change
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Beijing will also invest US$2 million (S$2.6 million) in the island countries' clean energy, fisheries, oceans, low-carbon infrastructure and tourism sectors.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Follow topic:
BEIJING - Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi pledged increased support from the world’s second-largest economy to Pacific Island countries in addressing climate change, during a summit in China’s Xiamen city on May 28, according to a ministry read-out.
The world’s biggest bilateral lender will undertake 100 “small but beautiful” projects across Pacific Island countries with China ties over the next three years, Mr Wang said, referring to one of the guiding principles of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s flagship “Belt and Road” infrastructure initiative.
Beijing will also invest US$2 million (S$2.6 million) in the island countries’ clean energy, fisheries, oceans, low-carbon infrastructure and tourism sectors, the statement added, an amount in line with a downturn in Chinese lending as its US$19 trillion economy slows.
“China fully recognises the vulnerability of the economic and social development of the Pacific Island countries in the face of the climate change crisis,” the statement said.
China’s renewed push to boost its influence with Pacific Island countries comes as US aid programmes to the region have been frozen, and several nations have been hit with hefty US tariffs. REUTERS
