A report just out says China's secretive aid programme is undermining efforts to improve governance in the region.
The study was written for the Australian based Lowy Institute, an independent international policy think tank.
The author, Fergus Hanson, said the paper was prompted by the lack of information about the amount of aid China was providing to the region and how that money was being spent:
"The impacts of the way Chaine manages its aid programme its not in China's interest, it's not in the Pacific Island countries' interest and its not in the interest of other major donors in the region. Giving aid in such an opaque way undermines accountability which works again Pacific Islanders themselves."
Fergus Hanson says China's secrecy tends to breed unnecessary fears about its military aims in the region.
