Pacific nations may view Australia as the "worst of two evils" when compared to China, after it undermined a deal on climate change, according to the former president of one of the region's smallest nations.

Key points: Australia has been criticised for forcing leaders at last week's Pacific Islands Forum to water down language on cutting carbon emissions

Australia has been criticised for forcing leaders at last week's Pacific Islands Forum to water down language on cutting carbon emissions Kiribati's former president said Pacific nations may turn away from Australia due to its lack of leadership on climate change

Kiribati's former president said Pacific nations may turn away from Australia due to its lack of leadership on climate change The former president said Pacific islands could foster greater relationships with China

Prime Minister Scott Morrison and the Coalition have been broadly criticised for forcing leaders at last week's Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) in Tuvalu to water down language on cutting carbon emissions and phasing out the use of coal.

China's rising influence in the Pacific is of concern to Australia, which has "stepped up" its presence in the region through aid and development funding.

But Anote Tong, who from 2003 to 2016 served as president of Kiribati — a series of islands atolls in the Pacific which is home to more than 100,000 people — said the renewed interest from Canberra could be dismissed, as island nations expressed their disgust at the nation's lack of leadership on climate change.

"It's really about the lesser of the two evils, I guess," he told RN Breakfast.

"And at the moment, Australia is coming up as the worst of two evils, and there's got to be a better understanding, there's got to be a more … respectful way of understanding each other.

"The dialogue, the conversation has to carry on. It cannot be dictated by the coal industry in the background."

Mr Tong was questioned as to how he could argue Pacific islands could foster greater relationships with Beijing, given the country does not share the values of democratic government that Australia does with its closest neighbours.

"Coal is not part of the democracy, it's not part of the justice," he said.

"It's about our survival, Australia is doing everything that would damage our future.

"What is the benefit of keeping that relationship going, and what options do we have with China?

"We don't know. So far we haven't explored that."

'Australia on its own won't kill the climate'

Kiribati has already begun suffering from climate change, with rising sea levels engulfing parts of the islands and causing serious concern for residents worried about their future.

Without naming countries such as China, Mr Morrison said larger polluters needed to be the focus of work on cutting emissions.

"Australia on its own won't kill the climate," he told reporters in Tuvalu on Friday.

"Emissions don't have a nationality, and where the bulk of emissions come from, that's what's threatening the world's climate."

Tuvalu's Prime Minister Enele Sopoaga urged Mr Morrison to act during the negotiations.

"We expressed very strongly during our exchange, between me and Scott [Morrison], I said 'You are concerned about saving your economy in Australia … I am concerned about saving my people in Tuvalu'," Mr Sopoaga said.