The treaty is the latest in a string of Pacific deals Australia has signed seeking to curb China’s expanding security influence
The agreement commits Australia to greater economic support for Vanuatu, whose largest external creditor is China, and it stops a foreign military power establishing a base there.
China’s navy has made repeated port calls to Vanuatu.
Beijing also funded the expansion of a wharf in Luganville, once the largest US military base in the South Pacific, fuelling concern in Canberra and Washington that China wanted a naval base. China and Vanuatu previously said the wharf was for cruise ships.
Source: News - South China Morning Post
