Australia will help to fund the development of two datacenters in the Pacific island nation Vanuatu, an example of tech infrastructure becoming an important diplomatic consideration.

Vanuatu is around 2,000 kilometers from Australia’s east coast. The country is home to around 320,000 people, and its GDP is just over $1 billion.

Despite Vanuatu’s small size, Australia has courted the nation and others in the Pacific because China is doing likewise. The Middle Kingdom’s diplomacy often includes proposals to create facilities that its navy could use, sweetened by offers to build submarine cables or mobile networks.

Australia does not want China gaining access to Pacific ports, or influence in the region. Japan and the USA support that policy and when Chinese entities expressed an interest

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