The major economies also put on a show of soft power. Pence showed nine Pacific leaders a 400-year-old Bible that is in PNG's parliament after he helped secure its donation by a missionary.
And on Sunday evening as sweltering heat gave way to a sea breeze, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison turned the sausages on the barbecue as he touted university scholarships and deeper ties with Australia.
Neither Pence nor Morrison, though, matched China's rhetoric on climate change, a major security issue for Pacific islands where rising sea levels are forcing people to move to live on higher ground.
Climate change featured in Xi's bilateral meetings with Pacific countries, which are concerned by Washington's withdrawal from the Paris climate accord and Australia's soft pedalling on the issue.
"I have been to China and I have seen also the huge tree replanting and I've seen also the axing of major industries that are producing huge greenhouse gas into the air," said Samoa's Tuilaepa.
"We expect all the countries to honour their commitments, signed together and if we are not able to contain the warming of the globe...the polar ice melts. You know what will happen."
