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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
World
Guardian staff and agencies

Australia ‘increasingly alone’ in countering China’s influence in Pacific, aid report shows

View of Vanuatu's Lini highway at sunset with people walking at the roadside, palm trees and cars are seen
Australia makes up 43% of official development finance in the Pacific region, the 2025 Lowy aid map finds. Photograph: Christopher Malili/The Guardian

Australia is “increasingly alone” in countering Beijing’s influence in the Pacific and remains the largest foreign aid donor to the region as the US and other western partners cut funding, a new report shows.

The 2025 Lowy Institute Pacific Aid Map, released late on Sunday, tracks official development finance (ODF) from 2008 to 2023. It finds ODF to the Pacific fell by 16% in 2023 to US$3.6bn, marking a second consecutive year of record decline in development support.

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