Nikkei wrote that MOFA plans to send to Tonga, Samoa, Vanuatu, and other Pacific nations specialists in treasury affairs and debt management to help them avoid becoming victims of China’s “debt trap” diplomacy. The daily explained that the assistance program constitutes part of the “free and open” Indo-Pacific initiative, noting that as a result of Beijing’s massive foreign aid projects for local infrastructure, more Pacific island states are now struggling with mounting debt and some of them have severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan to recognize the People’s Republic of China in recent years.