In other words, according to the Samoan High Commissioner in Canberra, it's best not to rush into things.

"When you face trials, you step back and mull things over," Her Excellency Ms Hinauri Petana says.

To paraphrase: let's see how the relationship with China develops.

Samoa and the other Pacific island states find themselves in the happy position of being wooed by two moneyed groups.

One week, the Foreign Minister of China is on a charm offensive, and the following two weeks, it's the Foreign Minister of Australia.

In her first week in the job, Penny Wong went to Fiji, and in her second week she took in Tonga and Samoa. Clearly, these small nations matter.

"We understand that we need to to work together like never before," she said.

The string of states across the vastness of the south Pacific are tiny - Samoa has a population half that of Canberra - but strategically vital. If China tries to take Taiwan by force, military control of the Pacific will be essential.

So Samoa and the other nations have a strong hand as they face both China and Australia and its allies.

Samoa is keeping its options open about China's proposal of closer ties.

"We have not made a decision as we did not have enough time to look at it," Samoa's Prime Minister, Fiame Naomi Mata'afa, has said.

That proposal, as revealed by the Reuters news agency, was to 10 countries - Samoa, Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Cook Islands, Niue and the Federated States of Micronesia.

Under the draft document, China and the Pacific island nations would "strengthen exchanges and cooperation in the fields of traditional and non-traditional security".

"China will hold intermediate and high-level police training for Pacific Island Countries through bilateral and multilateral means," it read.

In his whirlwind eight-nation tour of the island states, China's Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, encouraged them to sign up for Beijing's "Common Development Vision", which, according to the leaked draft, included agreements on law enforcement and the cooperation of police forces.

This set off alarm bells in Washington, Canberra and Wellington.

Joe Biden was on the case.

After he met New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, a White House statement said: "The United States and New Zealand share a concern that the establishment of a persistent military presence in the Pacific by a state that does not share our values or security interests would fundamentally alter the strategic balance of the region and pose national-security concerns to both our countries."

The concern of Washington prompted a pause by the Pacific island states (though no outsider quite knows what Solomon Islands has promised).

But either way, China's aims have not changed. Nobody doubts that.

The views on whether Australia took its eye off the ball are mixed.

Australia's new Foreign Minister Penny Wong certainly implied that was the case.

"We've got a lot of work to do to regain Australia's position as the partner of choice in the Pacific," she said, as she headed for the region. "That work starts now."

Others agreed.

"Successive governments in Canberra have been preoccupied with what were seen as more pressing and more important issues elsewhere in the world," says former director-general of national intelligence, Nick Warner.

But a former top Australian diplomat believes that more has been done than is often acknowledged.

James Batley, who was high commissioner to Solomon Islands, says that Scott Morrison's work in the region was underappreciated. He frequently met leaders, and not just in group gatherings. He made special trips.

"It's unprecedented, and it was appreciated. The fact that he was a prominent Christian also went down well," says Batley, who is now a fellow at the ANU's Department of Pacific Affairs.

He believes there is much to work with, as Australia's aid program is five times the size of China's. Many of the countries have much in common with Australia: a British background; the English language; a legal and parliamentary system; and sporting links, through rugby in particular. There are 23,000 Pacific islanders working in Australia.

And some "civil society" groups are worried about the influence of non-democratic China, particularly after its mask slipped in Hong Kong.

Journalists in Solomon Islands boycotted a press conference with the Chinese Foreign Minister because the questioning was to be severely restricted.

"We are a democratic country, and the media must be allowed to do their job freely and fairly," Media Association of Solomon Islands president Georgina Kekea said.

But the fear is that China may go over the heads of ordinary people, and seek pliant leaders who would benefit materially from Chinese largesse.

A "reset" is needed, according to Anna Gibert, who has worked in economic development in the region for more than 20 years, both as an employee of DFAT and on programs funded by it.

She sets out three guiding principles:

Respect is a word which keeps cropping up among those who know the region. But that doesn't mean that clear conversation about China is not possible, according to Batley.

"It is not disrespectful of us to say, for example, to Solomon Islands that your decision affects our national security, and we will have an opinion on that."

But he does caution against any grand waving of a big stick (which might actually push proud leaders of independent states away).

"Red lines" should be avoided, he feels, for example threatening countries with unspecified retaliation if they granted facilities for Chinese military ships.

Australia has had "red lines" in the past. When Solomon Islands wanted to contract the Chinese tech firm Huawei to construct a cable link to Sydney, the Australian government objected strongly. The Solomon Islands government backed down - but Australia picked up a hefty bill for the alternative.

And that may be a way forward. All the countries are deeply worried about global warming, for example. After all, rising seas affect them before anyone else.

The new Labor government's stronger voice on countering global warming may play well - and China, after all, is the world's biggest burner of fossil fuels.

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But there are further incentives Australia could offer.

Migration is top of the list for Professor Stephen Howes, director of the ANU's Development Policy Centre.

He says only 1 per cent of Australians have a Pacific islander background, compared with 7 per cent of New Zealanders (and many of the ones in Australia come via New Zealand citizenship).

"We need to have more Pacific Islanders in Australia," he says. "It would be a much more enduring engagement."

The new Labor government has promised a visa scheme like the one for Kiwis, one which offers islanders permanent rights (rather than the right to come and pick fruit and then leave).

More aid wouldn't bind the islands in so strongly, he feels, firstly because Australia is already the region's biggest donor, and secondly because Pacific nations might feel they could just simply get money from both Australia and China.

Migration, though, is something China can't offer.

The Pacific Australia Labour Mobility scheme already allows Australian businesses to hire workers from nine islands. That could be expanded, Batley believes.

Some island leaders take the view that their countries can be "friends to all and enemies to none".

Some have also been explicit in stating that they can play Australia and its allies off against China, according to Batley.

But harder choices are now ahead. The wooing has only just begun.

It may involve more money. It will involve more migration.

It will most certainly involve a lot of respect and listening - a lot of contact and talking, as Penny Wong no doubt realises.