Belt and Road Initiative

Manasseh Sogavare attended high-level talks in Beijing during the first ever official visit to China by a Solomons' prime minister.

His visit follows last month's controversial move by the Solomons to switch its diplomatic recognition to China, ending a long relationship with Taiwan.

While in Beijing, Mr Sogavare met China's President Xi Jinping, with the two leaders signing various agreements.

According to the ABC, one of the agreements was for co-operation under China's sprawling Belt and Road initiative.

The Pacific premier will meet President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang during his first official visit to the Asian giant starting on May 26, according to China’s foreign ministry.

China’s footprint in the Pacific region has been growing in the past decade. Pacific governments now owe about $1.3 billion in concessional debt to China, raising fears in the West that the region was becoming more susceptible to Beijing’s diplomatic pressure and unsustainable debt burdens.

The announcements came on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Papua New Guinea last week.

Tonga's memorandum of understanding on Belt and Road was followed by a reprieve of the country's debt payments owed to China.

Lopeti Senituli, a political adviser to Tongan Prime Minister 'Akilisi Pohiva, told Reuters the loan payments had been deferred for five years.

Meanwhile, the Vanuatu Daily Post reports Vanuatu signed seven different MoUs with China earlier this month, including a Belt and Road agreement.