Beijing Building Influence, Shelving Competition in the South Pacific By Eric Y. Shibuya

Beijing Building Influence, Shelving Competition in the South Pacific

By Eric Y. Shibuyahttp://www.jamestown.org/programs/chinabrief/single/?tx_ttnews[tt_news]=39995&tx_ttnews[backPid]=25&cHash=892ffd6faa39d999c95324207200992a

 
The announcement in late August 2012 that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s tour through Asia would begin with a stop in the Cook Islands and coincide with the annual Pacific Islands Forum Leaders’ Meeting was certainly no small news. While the United States has long held observer status at the Forum, Clinton’s presence was the highest U.S. representation ever at the meeting, trumping the Chinese representation by Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai (Xinhua, September 1). The visit in itself was generally consistent with the Obama Administration’s “rebalancing” toward the Asia-Pacific—and, generally consistent with Beijing’s reaction to the “rebalancing,” provoked Chinese concern (China Daily, August 29). While Clinton’s participation in the Post Forum Dialogue was a first, Cui was attending his second such event following up on Politburo Standing Committee member Jia Qinglin’s visit earlier this year (Xinhua, May 25). Last month, another Standing Committee member, Wu Bangguo, also traveled to Fiji—exiled from the Pacific Islands Forum since 2009 for its military government—to sign several small loan agreements, boost economic cooperation and thank Fiji for standing by the “One-China Principle” (Xinhua, September 21). These Chinese visits suggest a more deliberate policy to build Chinese influence in the South Pacific—irrespective of other players—to overcome Beijing’s previously haphazard investment in infrastructure there and the fluctuations attendant in countering Taiwan’s checkbook diplomacy prior to 2009.

 

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