Australia has continued to outrank China as the Pacific's biggest source of development aid, contributing a third of loans and infrastructure investment to the region, according to a new report.Looking at development projects across the Pacific between 2008 and 2024, the Lowy Institute report found that, after years of decline, aid to the region increased by 10 per cent in 2024.Total development aid stood at US$4.1 billion ($5.85 billion) in that year, but the report's authors estimate that would drop to US$3.8 billion ($5.42 billion) in yet-to-be-released 2025 figures.With China now shifting strategy from big debt-fuelled loans to smaller strategic aid, and amid major economic shocks in the Pacific, the contest for regional influence is coming under greater strain.Australia was the Pacific's biggest donor in 2024, giving $2.14 billion in aid, which made up 37 per cent of all finance to the region in that year Australia has stepped in to help Fiji, Solomon Islands, and Samoa to help absorb fuel-price shocks and help with supply.China used to be the dominant lender to the region but shifted its strategy in more recent years to focus on more "small and beautiful" projects — as President Xi Jinping has described it — to win regional influence."China's lending collapse to the region, sort of meant that it had to pivot or adapt how it engaged through aid and development channels, and how that's materialised is these smaller, more grassroots projects," Duke said."China is offering more training