A container ship unloads at the Matautu port, which has been expanded through support from Japan, in the Samoan capital of Apia, July 12, 2019. Picture taken July 12, 2019. (Photo:REUTERS)

Fiame Naomi Mataafa, the opposition leader set to become Samoa's first female prime minister, said she intended to maintain good relations with China but she had more pressing needs to address than the port project.

The United States and other Western countries have criticised China for extending loans to poorer countries for infrastructure projects that risk saddling them with unsustainable debt. China rejects the criticism.