Vanuatu is not considering allowing China to build a military base there, according to the Prime Minister of Vanuatu Charlot Salwai.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is in London for the the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), where he met on the sidelines with his counterpart from Vanuatu.  The two discussed reports that originally appeared in Fairfax Media claiming that the island nation held preliminary discussions on hosting a Chinese military base.

But Salwai said he had never had such negotiations with China in his 27 years in government.

"I want to assure the Prime Minister that Vanuatu does not dream to become a military base one day, it is not in our culture, it is not in our tradition, we have a custom system (of) chiefs that we are working with and we are happy with," said Mr. Salwai. 

Malcolm was satisfied with the discussion with Salwai and said the media reports were incorrect.

"The Prime Minister of Vanuatu has made it very clear, quite unequivocally, that the media reports about Chinese interest in establishing a military base in Vanuatu have no basis in fact, so he said those reports are absolutely untrue," he said.

Beijing also denied any negotiations to locate a military base in Vanuatu had taken place.