China’s real ambitions for the South Pacific

Summary

This article by John Garrick and Yan C. Bennett, writing for ASPI, makes the following points:

• Wang visited the Solomon Islands to finalise a new security agreement.
• And visited other Pacific Island countries to establish good relations with them.
• Not all went smoothly on the tour, but the Chinese Communist Party will undoubtedly learn from its failed attempt at achieving a multilateral Pacific deal.
• Beijing is offering investment through private capital and Chinese enterprise investment and is proposing new security arrangements, including cybersecurity.
• Wang’s proposals would give China a larger footprint in the Pacific, challenging the regional forums that currently defend international law.
• One of Beijing’s aims is to convert those Pacific islands’ that recognise Taiwan and get them to recognise China instead.
• Another objective relates simply to China’s dream of Pacific expansion—which benefits China.

References

Recent Runway Posts related to this topic:

• Sogavare’s military deal with China | The Runway (airforce.gov.au)
• Chinese investors promised PNG a 'gorgeous and glistening' skyscraper. Now it stands 'dangerous' and vacant | The Runway (airforce.gov.au)

References from the Web:

• JUN 2022 Pacific islands: an unexpected new dimension to power struggles between US and China—The Conversation
• JUN 2022 China’s Pacific Push Is Already Remaking the Region—The Diplomat

Source: Strategist (ASPI)

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