China’s embassy in Fiji has insisted that Beijing is not seeking a military base in the South Pacific, stating that aid pledged to developing island nations comes with “no political strings attached.”

Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka warned this week against any Chinese efforts to establish a military toehold in the strategically contested region.

“If they want to come, who would welcome them? Not Fiji,” Rabuka said in an address in Australia. “And I think that China understands that well.”

China’s embassy blamed journalists for peddling “false narratives” about its military ambitions.

“There is no political strings attached to China’s assistance, no imposing one’s will onto others, and no empty promises,” an embassy spokesman said in a statement posted to social media Thursday.

“The claims about ‘China setting up a military base in the Pacific’ are false narratives.

“They are baseless and driven by ulterior motives.”

The South Pacific — home to some of the world’s smallest, least developed, and most climate-threatened countries — is at the centre of a diplomatic scramble pitting China against its Western rivals.

China inked a secretive security pact with the Pacific nation of the Solomon Islands in 2022. Although the details have never been published, the United States and close ally Australia fear it may be the prelude to some kind of permanent Chinese base.

China maintains a small but conspicuous police presence in the Solomon Islands and Kiribati, sending officers to train locals in shooting, riot tactics, and martial arts.

The Chinese embassy spokesman stated that Beijing would never force Pacific island nations to “sacrifice their sovereignty.”

“China’s presence in the Pacific is focused on building roads and bridges to improve people’s livelihoods, not on stationing troops or setting up military bases.”

Beijing has spent hundreds of millions of dollars building sports stadiums, presidential palaces, hospitals, and roads in Pacific island nations.

This charm offensive appears to have borne fruit.

Kiribati, the Solomon Islands, and Nauru have severed their longstanding diplomatic links with Taiwan in favour of China in recent years.

China Not Welcome: Fiji

Fiji’s Prime Minister said on Wednesday that China should not be allowed to establish a permanent military foothold in the strategically contested South Pacific region.

China has spent years cementing its influence in a string of Pacific island nations, challenging traditional security partners such as the United States and its ally Australia.

Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka hit back at suggestions that China could turn its growing sway into a permanent security presence.

“If they want to come, who would welcome them? Not Fiji,” he told reporters during an address at Australia’s National Press Club. “And I think that China understands that well.”

Former coup leader Rabuka said the South Pacific should be an “ocean of peace”, free from the ambitions of jostling superpowers.

Aid and development should not be offered to climate-threatened Pacific nations with strings attached, he added.

“We do not want superpower rivalries or big power rivalries to be played out in the Pacific,” Rabuka said.

“China’s participation in our development should not affect how we interact with Australia, New Zealand, and America.”

Kiribati, the Solomon Islands, and Nauru have severed their longstanding diplomatic links with Taiwan in favour of China in recent years.

Solomon Islands is seen as a particularly close friend of China in the region.

It signed a secretive security pact with Beijing in 2022, fueling fears that China may one day seek to use the archipelago as a military base.