Chinese Foreign Affairs Minister Wang Yi is touring eight Pacific island nations as part of a strategy to increase Beijing's clout in the region. The move triggered Western countries to strengthen ties and may re-boot the relationship between France and Australia, still suffering from a submarine deal that went wrong.
"The submarine deal is water under the bridge," Carlyle Thayer, a professor with the Australia Defence University, told RFI. "The two countries shared the same strategic interest before that deal was aborted."
