China

Taped doors and quiet rooms tell a story about what happened at Heshi Peixin kindergarten.

A huge scandal in a tiny town, a barely believable failing, in a place where children should have been safe.

As soon as we arrive in the northwestern Chinese town of Maiji, it is clear that almost everyone knows someone who has been impacted.

After multiple children were found to have high levels of lead in their blood, police say staff at the private kindergarten had been adding paint powder to food in an apparent bid to make it look more appealing.

A total of 233 of the 251 children had unhealthy levels and 201 needed to be hospitalised, say local authorities.

Twenty-five rivers in southwestern China exceeded safe levels on Thursday, state media said, after more than 10,000 people were evacuated as the remnants of former typhoon Danas converged with East Asian monsoon rains.

Extreme rainfall and severe flooding, which meteorologists link to climate change, increasingly pose major challenges as they threaten to overwhelm ageing flood defences, displace millions and wreak havoc on a $2.8-trillion agricultural sector.

Heavy rains also hit the capital, Beijing, with one area in the sprawling Chaoyang district receiving 68.2 mm (2.7 inches) of rain in a single hour on Thursday morning, the state-run Beijing Daily said.

Ten southwestern rivers, including the Longyan, which flows through the densely populated region of Chongqing, could burst their embankments and levees at any time, broadcaster CCTV warned, citing the water resources ministry.

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/38352602

On July 12, Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is traveling to Beijing for another “annual leaders’ meeting” with Chinese President Xi Jinping. They will discuss global and regional issues as well as bilateral matters of trade and tourism.

The Australian government’s statement announcing the visit doesn’t mention human rights at all. It only makes a vague reference that direct engagement “at the highest level enables difference to be addressed.” Consistently, this has been the Albanese government’s method of relegating pesky human rights issues to little more than a disagreement, a “point of contention.” But they are not. Human rights are universal, protected, and promoted via a system of global rules and governance that applies to all of our fundamental rights and freedoms.

The Chinese government is one of the most repressive countries, and Hong Kong provides a disheartening case study on this point. Through the adoption of the draconian National Security Law in 2020, it effectively ended the semi-democracy Hong Kong enjoyed.

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[Edit typo.]

More than 20 countries are convening in Bogota next week to declare “concrete measures against Israel’s violations of international law”, diplomats told Middle East Eye.

The “emergency summit” is due to be held on 15-16 July, co-hosted by the governments of Colombia and South Africa as co-chairs of The Hague Group, to coordinate diplomatic and legal action to counter what they describe as “a climate of impunity” enabled by Israel and its powerful allies.

The founding members of the group included Bolivia, Colombia, Cuba, Honduras, Malaysia, Namibia, Senegal and South Africa.

States due to take part in the summit include Algeria, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, China, Cuba, Djibouti, Honduras, Indonesia, Ireland, Lebanon, Malaysia, Namibia, Nicaragua, Oman, Portugal, Spain, Qatar, Turkey, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Uruguay, and Palestine.

Soldiers most commonly use EVO drones, produced by the Chinese company Autel, which are primarily intended for photography and cost around NIS 10,000 (approximately $3,000) on Amazon. However, with a military-issued attachment known internally as an “iron ball,” a hand grenade can be affixed to the drone and dropped with the push of a button to detonate on the ground. Today, the majority of Israeli military companies in Gaza use these drones.

In the reports, all Palestinians killed were listed as “terrorists.” However, S. testified that aside from one person found with a knife and a single encounter with armed fighters, the scores of others killed — an average of one per day in his battalion’s combat zone — were unarmed. According to him, the drone strikes were carried out with the intent to kill, despite the majority of victims being located at such a distance from the soldiers that they could not have posed any threat.

Indeed, commercial drones converted into weapons have become common on modern battlefields because they offer a low-cost, accessible alternative to traditional airstrikes. Both Ukraine and Russia have used Chinese-made DJI drones in the current war in eastern Europe, outfitted with 3D-printed mounts to carry grenades and other explosives. In May, after China discovered that Ukraine was using commercial drones for military purposes, it banned their sale to the country, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Archived

• Massive industrial overcapacity in China – driven by aggressive state subsidies – is pushing down prices and profits, particularly in the auto sector.
• Beijing is trying to rein in «disorderly price competition» by tightening controls and guiding the orderly shutdown of uncompetitive firms.
• Analysts warn of looming bankruptcies, deflationary pressure and potential social unrest, as heavily indebted giants like BYD and Nio come under growing scrutiny.

China’s leadership is struggling to rein in the forces it helped unleash. For years, President Xi Jinping has championed industrial expansion, urging Chinese companies to ramp up output, especially in strategic sectors like solar energy, electric vehicles and battery manufacturing. In the Communist Party’s official terminology, this is known as «high-quality development.»

Local governments, tasked with driving economic policy on the ground, eagerly answered the call – pumping vast subsidies into industrial buildouts. But the result is becoming hard to ignore: Across a range of industries, China is now grappling with massive overcapacity. The glut is driving down prices and eroding profits. In May, industrial earnings dropped 9.1% compared with a year earlier.

Now, the central government is hitting the brakes. Over the past ten days, the state-run People’s Daily has published two commentaries on the issue. One blamed a «volatile external environment and weak domestic demand» for «distorting the market mechanism» across several industries. A «race to the bottom,» it warned, is already underway.

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Archived

Peng Lifa, who has been forcibly disappeared for more than two years, has now been handed a sentence of nine years on charges including “arson” and “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.” Peng was detained on October 13, 2022, after hanging banners on a Beijing bridge criticizing Xi Jinping.

“Peng’s so-called ‘crime’ was nothing more than expressing views Chinese authorities don’t like, but Chinese and international law guarantee free speech. This sentence is an indictment not of Peng Lifa, but of Xi Jinping’s profoundly politicized legal system,” said Sophie Richardson, Co-Executive Director of CHRD [Chinese Human Rights Defenders].

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Concerns about the high temperatures spiralled after reports that a dormitory guard had died in his room at Qingdao University on Sunday - from what many believed to be heatstroke.

His cause of death was "under investigation", said a statement released by the university on Monday. It said that he had been found in his room in an "abnormal condition" and pronounced dead when paramedics arrived at the scene.

Tributes quickly poured in for the man, known endearingly among students as the dormitory "uncle" who took care of stray cats on the campus.

"The kittens don't know that Uncle has gone far away. After today it met a lot of people, but never heard Uncle's voice again," a Weibo user commented.

The incident has also cast a spotlight on the living conditions of the school's staff and students. Also on Sunday, a student in the same university was sent to the hospital after suffering a heat stroke, Jimu News reported.

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Archived

• Torrential rains drench large swathes of China
• Displacing thousands and exposing China's ageing flood defences
• A high-pressure system is also baking other parts of the country
• Extreme weather is increasingly challenging Chinese officials

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The world's No.2 economy faces growing threats from extreme weather, which meteorologists link to climate change. Each year, the impact threatens to wipe out tens of billions of dollars worth of commercial activity, alongside loss of life, as ageing flood defences are overwhelmed and infrastructure gaps - such as limited access to air conditioning - are exposed.

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/38234703

Archived

Beijing’s coercion campaign against Taiwan is entering a more litigious phase. While military drills and cognitive warfare remain staples of its coercive playbook, China is now intensifying the systematic use of law to target Taiwan’s democracy. It has escalated efforts to criminalise Taiwan’s elected leaders, most notably with the establishment of a public informant hotline.

This shows the extent of Beijing’s evolving lawfare strategy—the use of legal tools and judicial theatre to achieve political ends. Lawfare is now a domain of coercion for Beijing against Taiwan—one where tactics are carried out through courtrooms and clauses. The aim is clear: to isolate, intimidate and delegitimise Taiwan’s leadership under the guise of legal process.

At the centre of this campaign is Beijing’s so-called ‘Taiwan independence diehards’ list. Unveiled in August 2024, the list initially named 10 Taiwanese politicians and public figures accused of supporting separatism. Two more were added in October. The original list included Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo, former foreign minister Joseph Wu, and senior lawmakers including former speaker of the Legislative Yuan, You Si-kun. They stand accused of promoting Taiwan’s international presence, deepening ties with like-minded democracies, and—most importantly, in Beijing’s eyes—rejecting the One China principle.

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To accompany this legal offensive, Beijing has launched something creepier still: a public tip-off hotline. Hosted on the websites of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office and Ministry of Public Security, the hotline invites anyone—on either side of the strait—to submit information about the ‘criminal acts’ of these so-called separatists. This hotline is a sign that Beijing is attempting to weaponise legal intimidation at scale. By encouraging the public to participate in identifying or denouncing Taiwan’s democratic leaders, China hopes to transform its legal campaign from a state effort into a societal one.

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What’s more, the global response has so far been uneven. The United States rightly condemned the move as escalatory. Japan and other regional democracies have voiced concern about tensions in the strait. But the broader international community must do more to push back against this creeping normalisation of extraterritorial authoritarian law. Democracies must reaffirm that Chinese law has no jurisdiction over Taiwan’s leaders, and that those who defend freedom at home will be supported abroad.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/38208522

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Germany summoned the Chinese ambassador to the foreign ministry on Tuesday after saying China's military had laser targeted a German aircraft taking part in an EU operation in the Red Sea.

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There was no immediate response from China's foreign ministry and the Chinese embassy in Berlin did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

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Germany's defence ministry said the aircraft, taking part in the EU's ASPIDES mission which protects international sea routes in the Red Sea, had been contributing a Multi-Sensor Platform, or "flying eye" for reconnaissance of the area since October.

A Chinese warship, which had been encountered several times in the area, had laser targeted the aircraft with no reason or prior communication during a routine mission flight, said a ministry spokesperson. The incident took place at the beginning of July.

"By using the laser, the warship put at risk the safety of personnel and material," said the spokesperson, adding the mission flight was aborted as a precaution and the aircraft landed safely at a base in Djibouti.

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China has previously denied accusations of firing or pointing lasers at U.S. planes.

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In 2020, the U.S. Pacific Fleet said a Chinese warship had fired a laser at a U.S. naval patrol aircraft flying in airspace above international waters west of Guam. China said that did not accord with the facts.

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• The Chinese government is persecuting and silencing lawyers who challenge official abuses a decade after a major crackdown on lawyers defending people’s rights.
• The Xi Jinping government has sought to eradicate the influence of lawyers who defend people’s rights while compelling the rest of the legal profession to serve the Chinese Communist Party’s political agenda.
• The Chinese government should stop persecuting rights defense lawyers and reinstate their licenses. Concerned governments should speak out to support rights defense lawyers, and support those seeking refuge abroad.

The Chinese government is persecuting and silencing lawyers who challenge official abuses a decade after the “709 crackdown” on lawyers defending people’s rights, Human Rights Watch said today. The Chinese Communist Party has also strengthened ideological controls over the broader legal profession.

In July 2015, Chinese police rounded up and interrogated about 300 lawyers, legal assistants, and activists across the country; members of a loosely connected community known as the “rights defense” movement, which had become increasingly influential between 2003 and 2013. Some were forcibly disappeared for months and tortured, and 10 were sentenced to harsh prison terms. In the decade since, the authorities have subjected many of them to surveillance, harassment, public shaming, and collective punishment, and revoked or cancelled their or their law firms’ licenses.

“The Chinese government under Xi Jinping has sought to eradicate the influence of lawyers who defend people’s rights while compelling the rest of the legal profession to serve the Chinese Communist Party’s political agenda,” said Maya Wang, associate China director at Human Rights Watch. “The authorities over the past decade have muted the rights defense lawyers, though many still find ways to fight against social injustice.”

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Archived

China is to triple the number of facilities [in the Xinjiang Region] it uses to forcibly harvest the organs of detained Uyghur people, it has been claimed.

Experts have raised the alarm after it emerged that the Xinjiang Health Commission, a branch of China’s national health authority, plans to build six new medical centres by 2030, bringing the total in the region to nine – more than any other province in the country.

The expansion has heightened concerns over China’s treatment of Uyghur people, against whom the government already stands accused of genocide.

Beijing has also been accused of forcibly harvesting the organs of prisoners from minority groups and, in some cases, selling them to wealthy recipients willing to pay the equivalent of tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of pounds.

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An international tribunal, conducted in the UK in 2019, found that as many as 100,000 organ transplants had been carried out in China annually – nearly three times the number that its government reported to the international register.

Sayragul Sauytbay, a Kazakh doctor who was previously detained in Xinjiang, has spoken publicly about camp-wide “health checks” where detainees had their blood tested and, depending on their results, were then sorted into groups.

She began to notice that those who were given a pink check mark would soon disappear, concluding it was because of “organ harvesting”.

While the decision to build the new facilities was made in December last year, the plans have only recently been made public by End Transplant Abuse in China (ETAC), an Australia-based campaign group.

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Archived

This is an op-ed by Chen Kuan-ting, one of Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party legislator and a member of the Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee. Sana Hashmi is a fellow at the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation.

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For years, Taiwan has weathered economic coercion, military threats, diplomatic isolation, political interference, espionage and disinformation, but the direct targeting of elected leaders abroad signals an alarming escalation in Beijing’s campaign of hostility.

Czech military intelligence recently uncovered a plot that reads like fiction, but is all too real. Chinese diplomats and civil secret service in Prague had planned to ram the motorcade of then-vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) and physically assault her during her visit to the Czech Republic in March last year.

Taiwanese officials have rightly labeled this as “transnational repression.” We should call it what it is: endangering the life of a democratically elected leader. Although Czech authorities thwarted the plot, the warning is clear: Beijing is willing to cross any line to threaten and silence Taiwanese leadership. This cannot be allowed to become the new normal. In a world that claims to be governed by a rules-based international order, this was nothing short of a planned political attack, one that must not be dismissed or normalized under the cover of the “one China” policy.

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The Prague incident marks a new threshold: What was once intimidation is now premeditated violence. This is not diplomacy; it is state-sponsored coercion.

This is happening now because Beijing’s traditional tactics are faltering. Taiwan has grown more resilient, deepening its partnerships across Europe and Asia, and garnering broader international support. As diplomatic poaching yields diminishing returns, China is resorting to more extreme measures to intimidate Taiwanese leaders and deter others from engaging with Taipei. The strategy is plain: To keep Taiwan off the international stage and isolate it by any means necessary.

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If the world is serious about upholding a rules-based order, now is the time to draw firm boundaries and stand together in its defense.

“Taiwan will not be isolated by intimidation,” Hsiao said.

Indeed, Taiwan will neither be intimidated nor silenced. However, the international community must do its part: Support Taiwan’s right to exist, engage and remain secure. A stable Indo-Pacific region and a functioning international order are impossible if Taiwan is left vulnerable to violence, coercion and repression.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/38077700

Archived

Original NYT article (paywalled)

If Chinese leader Xi Jinping decides to attack Taiwan, he could ask Russian dictator Vladimir Putin to start a war in Europe to distract the United States.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said this in an interview with New York Times.

"If Xi Jinping were to attack Taiwan, he would first call his junior partner about it and tell him, 'Hey, I'm going to do this, and I need you to distract them in Europe by attacking NATO territory.' That's probably exactly what will happen," Rutte said.

He noted that this proves once again how interconnected the destinies of Europe, the Atlantic, the Arctic and the Indo-Pacific are.

He said this is why the defense of territories and strategic cooperation between NATO and Indo-Pacific countries should be strengthened.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/38016051

Archived

From thousands of miles away, Lithuania is offering to help the Philippines confront a rising tide of cyber threats and disinformation on the West Philippine Sea — warning that tactics used in favor of Beijing mirror the same information warfare Russia has waged in Europe.

Lithuanian Defense Minister Dovile Šakaliene, concluding the first-ever visit by a Lithuanian defense chief to the Philippines, warned Wednesday, July 2, that the hybrid threats both nations face from their larger neighbors are increasingly sophisticated and coordinated.

"It seems that Russia and China sometimes are piloting certain methods in one region and then applying them in another region," Šakaliene told reporters at a press conference.

The Baltic nation has long grappled with hybrid threats from Moscow and sees parallels in the Philippines’ experience countering the distortion of incidents of Beijing’s aggression toward Philippine vessels in the South China Sea, Šakaliene said.

“From what we hear, the Philippines (deals) with Chinese informational activity in the region, and pressure, for example, this gaslighting about the incidents in the West Philippine Sea,” Šakaliene said. “So you also see a lot of disinformation and propaganda.”

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Lithuania has invited the Philippines to upgrade from observer status to full participant in its annual "Amber Mist" cybersecurity exercise this November. Last year, the Philippines only observed the exercise.

"This year, we invited the Philippines to send their team as participants in this exercise. We are hoping that we will have five countries from the region: the Philippines, Japan, Korea, Australia, and Taiwan," Šakaliene said.

"We are going to share quite practical information because certain cyber attacks that we are facing are quite similar," Šakaliene said. "In certain cases, (this is) a combination of cyber incidents and informational incidents."

Lithuania has also invited the Philippines to participate in the Vilnius Strategic Communications Conference in October 2025, which focuses on information integrity and security.

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Beyond cybersecurity, Šakaliene also pointed to possible cooperation in maritime security. Šakaliene noted that UNCLOS, the international convention covering the world's oceans and seas, falls short in addressing today’s challenges, particularly in protecting critical underwater infrastructure.

"What is happening in the Baltic Sea with critical underwater infrastructure and what is happening with critical underwater infrastructure in your region is quite similar," Šakaliene said.

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/37950684

Archived

The former head of the UK’s civil service has described the Chinese leader Xi Jinping as a “dictator” and said Donald Trump had put “helpful pressure” on Europe to increase defence spending.

Simon Case, who served as the cabinet secretary until December, when he stepped down on health grounds, said China had sent a clear message to “prepare for serious conflict” in Taiwan.

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The UK has committed to spend the equivalent of 2.6% of GDP in 2027, and it and other Nato members have signed up to increasing spending to 5% by 2035 on militaries and related security.

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Case said: “There’s some actually quite helpful pressure, if you ask me – [this is a] slightly unpopular view – from the White House about us pulling our fingers out in Europe and actually stepping up to the plate on our defence spending."

“But the reason that matters is because President Xi has publicly set out his timetable for, as he would put it, reunifying Taiwan. We’re incredibly bad at reading what dictators say in public. We spend millions of pounds on secret intelligence, which is absolutely amazing, but we’re really bad at missing what they actually say in public, which is, this is the timetable at which I want everybody to be ready for us to prepare for serious conflict.”

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Case also raised the threat of Russia starting further conflicts in Europe, beyond Ukraine.

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/37947127

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China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi reportedly told the EU's top diplomat Kaja Kallas on July 3 that the country cannot afford for Russia to lose the war in Ukraine amid fears the U.S. would shift focus towards Beijing, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported, citing sources familiar with the conversation.

As the war in Ukraine drags on, Wang's reported comments suggest that Russia's war in Ukraine may serve China's strategic needs as focus is deviated away from Beijing's mounting preparation to launch its own possible invasion into Taiwan.

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China has been a key ally to Russia during its full-scale war, helping Moscow evade Western sanctions and becoming the leading source of dual-use goods fueling the Russian defense industry.

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The frankness of Wang's reported admission was greeted with surprise by EU official, according to Hong Kong-based SCMP, amid China's past public statements in favor of a peace deal. Two sources familiar with the meeting told SCMP that they believed Wang was providing Kallas with a lesson in realpolitik during the four-hour encounter.

Wang on July 3 again reportedly rejected Western accusations that it was providing funding and weaponry to support Moscow's war effort in Ukraine.

President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly accused Beijing of providing weaponry to Moscow. On May 29, Zelensky said that China had stopped selling drones to Ukraine and Western countries while continuing to supply them to Russia.

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• About This Project.
• Executive Summary.

Archived

In recent years, China has been grappling with severe flood crises that have displaced millions, caused heavy economic losses, and exposed vulnerabilities in its infrastructure and disaster management systems. The China flood crisis is not just a national emergency—it is a reflection of global climate patterns that are becoming increasingly unpredictable and devastating. With torrential rains now an annual occurrence during the summer monsoon, especially in provinces like Henan, Sichuan, and Guangdong, the nation faces a daunting environmental challenge. This article explores the roots, repercussions, and remedies of China’s ongoing flood dilemma.

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Floods in China are not new; the country has a long history of river-based civilizations, particularly along the Yangtze, Yellow, and Pearl Rivers. However, climate change has intensified the severity and frequency of floods, turning seasonal rains into life-threatening disasters.

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At the start of July 2025, China's north and west is again on alert after sweeping rains trigger deadly floods.

China's north and west braced for more flash floods and landslides on Thursday as annual 'Plum Rains' left a trail of destruction and prompted the mobilisation of thousands of rescue workers to pull people from floodwaters.

Red alerts were issued tracing the rains as they moved from the southwestern province of Sichuan through the northwestern province of Gansu, and up to the northeastern province of Liaoning [...]

Extreme rainfall and severe flooding, which meteorologists link to climate change, increasingly pose major challenges for policymakers as they threaten to overwhelm ageing flood defences, displace millions and wreak havoc on China's $2.8 trillion agricultural sector.

Economic losses from natural disasters exceeded $10 billion last July, when the 'Plum Rains' - named for their timing coinciding with plums ripening along China's Yangtze River during the East Asia monsoon - typically reach their peak.

[...] According to Climate Analytics, a global climate science and policy institute engaged around the world in driving and supporting climate action, China not on track for a 1.5°C-aligned pathway to align with the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C goal.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/37886023

How China collaterizes loans to the Global South: News study raises concerns of debt transparency and 'macroeconomic surveillance' by Beijing

Here is the working paper (pdf).

An international team of lawyers, economists, and political scientists launched a report that sheds new light on the secured lending practices of Chinese creditors in low- and middle-income countries and highlights the urgent need for more transparency in collateralized lending and borrowing.

The How China Collateralizes (HCC) report, by Anna Gelpern, Omar Haddad, Sebastian Horn, Paulina Kintzinger, Brad Parks and Christoph Trebesch, is the first comprehensive analysis of the secured lending practices of Chinese creditors in emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs). We present a new dataset and detailed case studies of collateralized public and publicly guaranteed (PPG) loans from Chinese state-owned institutions in EMDEs between 2000 and 2021.

TLDR:

• Almost half of China's total public and publicly guaranteed (PPG) loan portfolio to emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs) is effectively collateralized - amounting to $420 billion in collateralized debt across 57 countries.
• As security, they use liquid, easily accessible assets, such as cash in bank accounts located in China. They rarely take infrastructure project assets as collateral, but often rely for repayment on established commodity revenue streams unrelated to the project.
• Typically, EMDE governments and state-owned enterprises commit to route foreign currency proceeds from commodity sales through bank accounts controlled by China. The cash balances in these accounts can be very large; in low-income, commodity-exporting countries, they average more than 20% of annual PPG debt service to all external creditors.
• The same revenue source can secure multiple successive borrowings over many years. The study reveals a previously undocumented pattern of revenue ring-fencing, where a significant share of commodity export receipts never reaches the exporting countries as revenues routed overseas secure priority repayment for the creditor; they remain out of public sight and largely beyond the borrower’s reach until the secured debts are repaid.
• These findings raise new concerns about debt transparency, fiscal management, fiscal autonomy, and the quality of macroeconomic surveillance, particularly in commodity-exporting EMDEs.

As DeepSeek’s AI models gain traction internationally — attracting users with their strong technical performance at low costs — the question remains how their embedded political filters will affect global audiences. The broader concern is what it means when millions worldwide start depending on AI systems deliberately designed to reflect and reinforce Chinese government perspectives.

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/3380309

Archived version

Fiji PM Stiveni Rabuka says he is against China gaining a military base in the Pacific, but he remains unconvinced that is Beijing's aim.

But experts say his comments are out of touch with China's ambition given its previous "dual infrastructure" projects in the region.

Rabuka wants to explore a new Australian agreement to formalise their relationships beyond changes in government, and will meet with other Pacific leaders in September.

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Fiji's Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka has delivered a blow to China's security ambitions in the Pacific, declaring his country would "not welcome" any Chinese military bases in the region.

But Mr Rabuka has also stressed he doesn't believe that China is actively looking for such a security foothold in the Pacific — saying the rising power doesn't need it to project power.

Sitiveni Rabuka was repeatedly pressed about China’s role in the Pacific in the wake of his speech to the National Press Club in Canberra today.

Mr Rabuka didn’t mince words when he was asked if he believed that Beijing should be permitted to establish a military base in the Pacific.

"Who would welcome them?" he asked rhetorically. "Not Fiji."

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Australian government assessments, which warn that China is seeking a security foothold in the Pacific — potentially through "dual use" infrastructure projects which could be used for military purposes.

The Pacific Minister Pat Conroy has repeatedly said publicly that Beijing is seeking a security "presence" in the region, including through its attempts to expand police cooperation in the Pacific.

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Mr Rabuka also said he would like to explore signing a new overarching agreement with Australia, saying the relationship may have "reached a point … where our renewed and elevated partnership needs to step up to an agreement or treaty".

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Mr Rabuka did not provide detail about how a new agreement could work, but said it would allow Australia to expand assistance to Fiji and help the relationship withstand the "political whims of the winning parties in the various elections, because there will be national treaties between sovereign states".

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