FILE PHOTO: Samoan Prime Minister Tuilaepa Aiono Sailele Malielegaoi gestures during a news conference to mark the end of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting at Marlborough House in London, Britain, April 20, 2018. REUTERS/Hannah McKay
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Pacific Island states only have themselves to blame if they fall into debt problems and criticism of China's surging lending in the region by rival powers has been patronising, Samoa's Prime Minister said on Thursday.
China has spent $1.3 billion (999.08 million pounds) on concessionary loans and gifts since 2011 to become the Pacific's second-largest donor after Australia, stoking concern in the West that several tiny nations could end up overburdened and in debt to China.
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