The government of cash-strapped Vanuatu is soon to settle into a suite of new buildings funded by China, a move likely to reignite concerns about Beijing’s reach in the South Pacific nation.
At an official handover ceremony in front of a towering China Aid billboard, Vanuatuan Prime Minister Charlot Salwai announced the opening of the nation’s sweeping new presidential palace.
The project also included the construction of a new Vanuatuan Ministry of Finance and Economic Management building and renovations to the Vanuatuan Ministry of Foreign Affairs International Cooperation and External Trade, China’s embassy said in a statement yesterday.
Photo: AFP / Vanuatu Ministry of the Prime Minister
Australia’s Lowy Institute think tank estimated China had spent upward of US$21 million on the construction, a significant sum for an aid project in a developing nation of fewer than 300,000 people.
China’s embassy said the project had gifted Vanuatu “another landmark building,” while symbolizing a new “milestone” in their increasingly warm relationship.
A Chinese delegation handed Salwai an oversized novelty golden key — also emblazoned with “China Aid” — at a festive opening ceremony replete with Chinese dragon dancers and the brewing of the ceremonial kava drink.
Local media reported that hundreds of public servants would work, rent-free, inside the new buildings.
Vanuatu is heavily indebted to China: about 40 percent of its external debt is owed to the Export-Import Bank of China, the Lowy Institute said.
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