SYDNEY—The new prime minister of Samoa has confirmed she will cancel a China-backed port project. She hasn’t closed the door to China as she navigates a path for the Pacific nation while a regional competition between Beijing and Washington intensifies. Fiame Naomi Mataafa indicated she would only approve investments that had clear benefits for her country as she expressed doubts about an upside for the Pacific being a pawn in a geopolitical tussle between the two superpowers. Mataafa said China’s interest in the Pacific had grown as the United States effectively “moved out” of the region. “There seems to be a renewed interest in the Pacific, which may be a good thing, but not necessarily,” Mataafa told The Epoch Times on July 28, days after her election confirmation that ended a months-long political crisis. Samoa, an island nation of around 200,000 that relies on subsistence farming,  tourism, fish, coconut product …