By Liz Lee and Kirsty Needham
BEIJING/SYDNEY (Reuters) -China said it hopes Fiji will continue to give 'firm' support to it on issues concerning Beijing's core interests and major concerns, state media cited President Xi Jinping as saying to Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka.
Rabuka, who became the first new prime minister in Fiji in 16 years in December, met Xi for the first time on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in San Francisco on Thursday.
Fiji's government said in a statement the meeting was focused on China's Belt and Road Initiative, and the leaders discussed Beijing's concessional loan to Fiji and a joint project to modernise Fiji's ports.
In the statement, Fiji expressed support for Xi's "vision for global security" which it said mirrored Rabuka's advocacy for a "Pacific Zone of Peace".
"In the face of global uncertainties and geopolitical pressures, Prime Minister Rabuka expressed Fiji's solidarity with China's Global Security Initiative (GSI), aimed at constructing a diplomatic and security architecture through multilateral treaties, alliances, and institutions," the Fiji statement said.
Xi told Rabuka that China will continue to support Fiji in safeguarding its national sovereignty, security and territorial integrity, Chinese state television said.
Xi told the Fijian leader that China is willing to work with the Pacific island nation to strengthen political mutual trust and expand practical cooperation.
China supports Fiji in independently choosing its own development path and achieving national development and revitalisation, Xi said.
The Chinese leader said China is willing to promote cooperation in infrastructure, agriculture, forestry and fisheries, new energy and other areas to help Fiji's economic and social development.
China is also willing to increase Fijian imports, support commercial investments into Fiji and encourage more tourists to visit Fiji.
China's policy on the Pacific Island nations fully respects the sovereignty and independence of those countries without attaching political conditions or empty promises, Xi added, saying that China develops ties with the countries without "selfish motives".
Shortly after forming government, Rabuka put on hold a decade-old police cooperation deal between Fiji and China, and last month said his government would strengthen defence ties with major aid donor Australia.
China has been pushing for greater security and trade ties with Pacific Islands countries, signing a security pact with Solomon Islands, raising alarm in the United States which responded by striking a defence deal with Papua New Guinea.
Rabuka has said that the Pacific Islands should be a "zone of peace" and that he hoped the rivalry between China and the U.S. in the region will not turn into conflict.
The Fiji statement said Xi had expressed interest in funding major capital projects.
(Reporting by Liz Lee and Beijing newsroom, and Kirsty Needham in Sydney; Editing by Christopher Cushing, Stephen Coates and Raju Gopalakrishnan)
