China on Tuesday symbolically delivered the keys to a new presidential palace in Vanuatu, where it is funding other government buildings, as many projects resurrect concerns over Beijing’s influence in the South Pacific country, AFP reports, Agerpres reports.

Vanuatu’s Prime Minister Charlot Salwai announced the opening of a new presidential palace in the country at an official handover ceremony in front of an imposing „China Aid” billboard to remind people of its Chinese funding.

Beijing is also planning to construct a new building for the Ministry of Finance and renovate the island island nation’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Chinese embassy announced in a statement Tuesday.

This project provides Vanuatu with „another flagship building” and symbolizes a new „important milestone” in increasingly warm bilateral relations, the embassy disclosed.

According to the Australian think-tank Lowy Institute, China has spent more than 21 million dollars on the projects, a significant sum in this developing country of less than 300,000 people.

Vanuatu is deeply indebted to China, with about 40% of its external debt owed to China’s Eximbank, according to the Lowy Institute.

China has already financed infrastructure in the archipelago, where Beijing is battling the West for influence in other small Pacific states.

Vanuatu became independent in 1980 after being a colony jointly administered by France and the UK as the New Hebrides.

AGERPRES