Perched atop Port Vila, Vanuatu’s seaside capital, sits a gleaming red and white building, gifted to the Pacific country by China last month. The new presidential palace has a coveted position in town, high on a hill and overlooking the prime minister’s office, a building which was similarly renovated thanks to a hefty Chinese donation almost a decade ago.
The multimillion dollar complex is the latest in a long line of gifts and infrastructure projects offered to Vanuatu by Beijing, transforming several towns and villages in the small island nation of just over 300,000 people. They include a suite of new government ministry buildings, the country’s parliament house, road construction projects on several islands, the rebuilding of a sports stadium, a new wharf, and the donation of a massive convention centre that often sits empty in the middle of town.
