U.S. Aid Freeze Creates New Opening for China in the South Pacific

Tributes are placed beneath the covered seal of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) at their headquarters in Washington, DC, on February 7, 2025. Mandel NGAN / AFP

Donald Trump’s foreign aid freeze has halted vital projects in the South Pacific, aid workers, and analysts say, risking lives and hurting U.S. efforts to woo the region.

Disaster-prone, isolated, and threatened by rising seas, tropical Pacific island states are some of the most aid-reliant nations on Earth, development agencies say.

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by Agence France-Presse

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