The rejection of China’s deal shows the Pacific will not be used as a geopolitical pawn

China’s foreign minister Wang Yi and Fiji’s prime minister Frank Bainimarama co-host a meeting of Pacific foreign ministers in Suva, at which Pacific leaders rejected a sweeping economic and security deal with China. Photograph: Xinhua/REX/Shutterstock

Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi is nearing the end of a marathon tour of eight Pacific states. By Saturday, he will have visited Solomon Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, and Timor-Leste.

While Wang will come away with multiple bilateral economic and development agreements, he will not return to China with the big prize – a comprehensive security treaty, which would have seen a reconfiguration of the political landscape in the Pacific, which 10 Pacific states declined to sign at a virtual meeting on Monday.