Solomons PM says US to finance key port after Chinese interest

SYDNEY: The United States is in advanced talks to fund a port in the Solomon Islands, the Pacific nation's leader said, reinvigorating a race for influence with China in the region.The US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), an agency designed to advance Washington's foreign policy in developing countries, has struck memorandums with several South Pacific countries indebted to China since May.Vanuatu and Solomon Islands, where Beijing has built sport stadiums, roads, government offices and airports over the past decade, signed with the DFC to explore infrastructure project, US officials said.The first major project likely to emerge is Bina Harbour, a deep water port in the Solomon Islands, where Washington and Canberra had feared China could build a dual-purpose military an