This paper examines the growing geopolitical contestation in the Pacific over funding deep-water port development and accessing terrestrial and marine resources including minerals, military safe harbours, and shipping lanes. China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and its funding of deep-water ports as part of the Maritime Silk Road (MSRI), have seemingly endangered the historical role and influence of certain western countries, engendering strategic responses by the United States, Australia, and New Zealand. Bilateral and multilateral diplomacy, aid, technical assistance, and loans for major infrastructural development feature in this competition. This paper is based on research on the experiences of four Pacific Island Countries (PICs),1 namely Cook Islands, Tonga, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu. For Pacific Small Islands Developing States (PSIDS), donor funding and technical assistance are welcomed, but the inherent geopolitical and resource interests associated with deep-water port resourcing is a major challenge. The heightened contestation has given PSIDS unprecedented leverage in negotiating infrastructural and development aid. It is argued that patronising attitudes in official statements and media commentaries are not conducive to cordial relationships with PICs (Blades 2021) nor are grand geopolitical strategies formulated in foreign capitals with no consultation with PSIDS' governments (Hawkins 2023).