WELLINGTON
\nChina\u2019s Foreign Minister Wang Yi arrived in Tonga on Tuesday.
\nIn Tonga, Wang met with King Tupou VI and Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni and signed several agreements with Sovaleni that covered everything from disaster management to a royal tomb improvement project.
\nChinese Ambassador Cao Xiaolin said in a statement the two countries already had close ties in a number of areas including trade, infrastructure and clean energy. He said China had provided various training programs to about 1,200 Tongan government officials and people.
\n\u201cThe relationship between China and Tonga is a shining pearl,\u201d the ambassador said in his statement.
\nTonga\u2019s government said the two sides had \u201cfruitful talks\u201d and thanked China for sending two military planes and two naval ships to deliver supplies after the tsunami.
\nWang\u2019s tour is causing consternation among some Western nations that see themselves as traditional partners with the South Pacific. Australia last week sent new Foreign Minister Penny Wong to Fiji in an attempt at counter-diplomacy.
\nU.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a speech last week that China posed an even more serious long-term threat than Russia.
\n\u201cChina is the only country with both the intent to reshape the international order \u2014 and, increasingly, the economic, diplomatic, military, and technological power to do it,\u201d he said.
\nAt a news conference Monday in Fiji, Wang said China had long championed developing nations both in the Pacific and around the world, addressing how \u201csome have been questioning why China has been so active in supporting Pacific Island countries.\u201d
\n\u201cMy advice for those people is: Don\u2019t be too anxious and don\u2019t be too nervous,\u201d Wang said.
\nTonga is continuing to recover from a massive volcanic eruption and tsunami in January which killed three people locally and destroyed hundreds of homes. The tsunami also cut the nation\u2019s internet connection to the rest of the world when it severed an undersea cable which took five weeks to repair.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WELLINGTON China\u2019s Foreign Minister Wang Yi arrived in Tonga on Tuesday. In Tonga, Wang met with King Tupou VI and Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni and signed several agreements with Sovaleni that covered everything from disaster management to a royal tomb improvement project. Chinese Ambassador Cao Xiaolin said in a statement the two countries already had […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-263709","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n