China denies military base ambitions in Pacific Islands, focus instead on improved livelihoods

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China’s embassy spokesman said the claims about China setting up a military base in the Pacific are false narratives.

PHOTO: AFP

SYDNEY – China’s embassy in Fiji on July 3 denied that Beijing wanted a military base or sphere of influence in the Pacific Islands after Fiji’s Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka said islands were trying to cope with a powerful China seeking to spread its influence.

“The claims about China setting up a military base in the Pacific are false narratives,” China’s embassy spokesman said in a statement.

“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.”

Mr Rabuka said on July 2 that his country has development cooperation with China but is

opposed to Beijing establishing a military base

China tested an intercontinental ballistic missile in September 2024 that flew over Fiji to land 11,000km from China in the international waters of the Pacific Ocean.

“If they can very well target an empty space, they can very well target occupied space,” Mr Rabuka told the National Press Club in Canberra, Australia.

Washington became concerned about China’s ambition to gain a military foothold in the Pacific Islands in 2018 when Beijing sought to

redevelop a naval base