Samoan Prime Minister, Fiame Naomi Mata’afa has said that Pacific security issues should and can be dealt with by countries in the region, and that China remained an attractive economic partner given its size.
Mata’afa in an interview during an official visit to New Zealand said there is a need as a region to deal with the (security) issue in the broader context of what is already in place.”
China’s growing influence in the Pacific and the potential of militarisation in the small island nations scattered across the South Pacific has concerned neighbouring Australia and New Zealand and their ally, the United States.
