MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Vanuatu is not in talks with Beijing about hosting a Chinese military base on the territory of the Pacific island nation, Foreign Minister Ralph Regenvanu said on Tuesday.
«No one in the Vanuatu Government has ever talked about a Chinese military base in Vanuatu of any sort… We are a non-aligned country. We are not interested in militarization, we are just not interested in any sort of military base in our country,» Regenvanu told the ABC broadcaster.
The minister also expressed disappointment over the media coverage standards in Australia.
Earlier in the day, Australia’s Fairfax Media reported, citing unnamed sources, that the two states were engaged in high-level talks on hosting a Chinese military outpost on the territory of Vanuatu, thought there had been no formal proposal.