China offers Pacific Islands increased support in addressing climate change

BEIJING (Reuters) -Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi pledged increased support from the world's second-largest economy to Pacific Island countries in addressing climate change, during a summit China's Xiamen on Wednesday, according to a ministry readout.

The world's biggest bilateral lender will undertake 100 "small but beautiful" projects across Pacific Island countries with China ties over the next three years, Wang said, referring to one of the guiding principles of Chinese President Xi Jinping's flagship "Belt and Road" infrastructure initiative.

Beijing will also invest $2 million in the island countries' clean energy, fisheries, oceans, low-carbon infrastructure and tourism sectors, the statement added, an amount in line with a downturn in Chinese lending as its $19 trillion economy slows.

"China fully recognises the vulnerability of the economic and social development of the Pacific Island countries in the face of the climate change crisis," the statement said.

China's renewed push to boost its influence with Pacific Island countries comes as U.S. aid programs to the region have been frozen, and several nations have been hit with hefty U.S. tariffs.

(Reporting by Joe Cash in Beijing; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)

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