Chinese delegations have barred journalists who report on the Chinese foreign minister’s Pacific tour from calling out questions, recording and accessing information prompting concerns about the tour’s secrecy.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is on day six of a ten-day trip to eight Pacific countries in a bid to deepen ties with the island nations. He has visited the Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Samoa, Fiji and Tonga and will arrive in Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste in the coming days.
Australia and the United States have been closely watching the tour, concerned about Beijing’s increasingly overt ambition to establish a military presence in their neighbouring countries after a  security and economic deal between China and the region was leaked. However, the agreement was shelved on Monday due to a lack of consensus….