China in the Pacific Islands

As China attempts to increase its influence over the PICs, Japan must marshal a strategic response that connects these states to its broader objectives in the Indo-Pacific.

The 2023 Games, hosted by Solomon Islands, underscore China’s growing role in the Pacific Island countries.

Pacific Islands Forum members face challenging conversations about the prickly China-U.S. relationship and its effect on the region.

Rabuka said Fiji was “more comfortable” dealing with nations like Australia, taking a measured tone and notably shifting Fiji further away from entanglement with China.

Examining the People’s Liberation Army Navy’s Oceania port visits.

Washington has indeed stepped up engagement, but missteps, half-steps, and mixed messaging are getting in the way.

As Honiara denies its new security pact with China poses a threat to the Pacific, it would behoove the West to consider what it is the Solomons want and need from their partners.

Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare is on his second trip to China – and his first since upending Pacific geopolitics with a China-Solomons security agreement.

Speaking from Japan, Palau’s President Surangel Whipps Jr. said that three Chinese boats have made “uninvited” entries into his country’s waters since he took office in 2021.

Fiji announced a reconsideration of its 2011 security agreement with China just before signing a new defense agreement with New Zealand. It was subtle but clear signal to Beijing.

The specter of geostrategic competition being mapped onto Fiji’s political fault lines remains a distinct possibility that would be deeply damaging for the nation, and region, as a whole.