Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

China, the United States and changing South Pacific regional order in the 2010s

  • Original Article
  • Published:
China International Strategy Review Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The regional order in the South Pacific has changed in the most recent decade. While Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) still maintain their dominant role in regional affairs to a large extent, new dynamics resulting from perceptions of China and its rising profile, changing but uncertain US policies from Barack Obama to Donald Trump and, more importantly, the rise of Pacific regionalism, has shaped the regional order in terms of major actors, patterns of interaction, and regional identities. How China is perceived by metropolitan powers is influenced by an increasing geopolitical temperature and Donald Trump’s uncertain Indo-Pacific Strategy and climate change policies. Within the region, new power dynamics are also at play. Driven by the region’s development needs and characterized by more active Pacific-led and Pacific-owned regionalism, especially in the context of the global climate agenda, a new regional identity with an increased sense of agency is emerging. In this regard, the South Pacific regional order has not only diverged from the absolute ANZ-centered one of the 1990s and 2000s, but also differs from that which was in place during the Cold War.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. This paper focuses on the 14 island states since they have sovereignty and independent foreign policies, independent at least in terms of international law. They are Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea (PNG), Republic of Marshall Islands (RMI), Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

  2. This paper was being finalized while the international symposium on “The Pacific (Islands) Region in the ‘Pacific Century’: Competition, Coordination and Inclusive Participation” was held in Peking University. I would like to thank Dr. Wang Dong and Dr. Xin Chen for inviting me to this event which helped me finalize the paper. Not surprisingly, the participants failed to reach a convergent view on what “Pacific Region” means until the last session.

  3. I personally participated in this report as a member of the reviewing experts team.

  4. Whether China should be seen as a developing country was most recently questioned by Scott Morrison, the Australian Prime Minister during his visit to the United States in September 2019.

  5. This argument is based on a series of closed-door discussions I joined in Canberra, Wellington, Sydney and Auckland.

References

  • ABC News. 2003. Solomons intervention. http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2003/s888764.htm. Accessed 20 Sep 2019.

  • Brown, Peter. 2012. Australian Influence in the South Pacific. Canberra: Centre for Defence and Strategic Studies at the Australian Defence College. https://www.defence.gov.au/ADC/Publications/Commanders/2012/07_Brown%20SAP%20Final%20PDF.pdf. Accessed 17 Nov. 2019.

  • Bull, Hedley. 1977. The Anarchical Society: A Study of Order in World Politics. New York: Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buzan, Barry. 1998. The Asia-Pacific: What Sort of Region in What Sort of World? In Asia-Pacific in the New World Order, eds. Anthony Mcgrew and Christopher Brook, 68–87. Bath: The Bath Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen, Xiaochen [陈晓晨]. 2019. New Developments in South Pacific Regionalism: Regional Mechanisms and Impacts (南太平洋地区主义的新发展 : 地区机制与影响评估). Journal of International Relations (国际关系研究) 39 (3): 28.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen, Xiaochen, Yudi Chang, and Liangying Wang. 2018. Practical Measure to Push forward China-SPC BRI Cooperation. In Regionalism in South Pacific, ed. Yu Changsen, 69–90. Beijing: Social Science Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Claxton, Karl. 2015. No Exit: Next Steps for Promoting South Pacific Peace and Prosperity, ed. Strategic Insights. Barton: Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

  • Clinton, Hillary Rodham. 2012. Remarks at the Pacific Islands Forum Post-Forum Dialogue. https://2009-2017.state.gov/secretary/20092013clinton/rm/2012/08/197266.htm. Accessed 2 Oct 2019.

  • Connolly, Peter J. 2016. Engaging China’s New Foreign Policy in the South Pacific. Australian Journal of International Affairs 70 (5): 484–505.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crocombe, R.G. 1973. The New South Pacific. Canberra: Australian National University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis, Malcolm. 2015. China’s rise to Great Power Status in Asia: Worth Going to War to Protect? The National Interest. https://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/china%E2%80%99s-rise-great-power-status-asia-worth-going-war-protect-14126. Accessed 6 Oct 2019.

  • Fry, Greg, and Sandra Tarte. 2015. The “New Pacific Diplomacy”: An Introduction. In The New Pacific Diplomacy, eds. Greg Fry and Sandra Tarte, 3–20. Canberra: Australian National University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fry, Gregory E. 1981. Regionalism and International Politics of the South Pacific. Pacific Affairs 54 (3): 455–484.

    Google Scholar 

  • Graham, Kennedy. 2008. Models of Regional Governance: Is there a Choice for the Pacific? In Models of Regional Governance for the Pacific: Sovereignty and the Future Architecture of Regionalism, ed. Kennedy Graham, 19–49. Christchurch: Canterbury University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hannan, Kate, and Stewart Firth. 2015. Trading with the Dragon: Chinese Trade, Investment and Development Assistance in the Pacific Islands. Journal of Contemporary China 24 (95): 865–882.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hayward-Jones, Jenny. 2019. Cross Purposes: Why is Australia’s Pacific Influence Waning? Australian Foreign Affairs 6: 29–50.

    Google Scholar 

  • Herr, Richard. 1986. Regionalism, Strategic Denial and South Pacific Security. The Journal of Pacific History 21 (4): 170–182.

    Google Scholar 

  • Herr, Richard. 1988. Microstate Sovereignty in the South Pacific: Is Small Practical? Contemporary Southeast Asia 10 (2): 15.

    Google Scholar 

  • Herr, Richard. 1991. Concluding Observations. In The South Pacific: Problems, Issues and Prospects, ed. Ramesh Thakur, 203–211. New York: St. Martin’s Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Herr, Richard. 1992. South Pacific Microstate Sovereignty in the Post-Cold War Order: The Day after Waterloo? In Pacific History: Papers from the 8th Pacific History Association Conference, ed. Donald Rubinstein Mangilao, 249–258. Guam: University of Guam Press & Micronesian Area Research Center.

  • Herr, Richard. 2002. The Pacific Islands Region in the Post-Cold War Order: Some Thoughts from a Decade Later. Revue Juridique Polynesienne (RJP) 2 (Special Series): 47–57.

    Google Scholar 

  • Herr, Richard. 2019. Chinese Influence in the Pacific Islands: The Yin and Yang of Soft Power. Barton: Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

    Google Scholar 

  • Herr, Richard, and Anthony Bergin. 2011. Our Near Abroad: Australia and Pacific Islands Regionalism. Barton: Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

    Google Scholar 

  • Katzenstein, Peter J. 2005. A World of Regions: Asia and Europe in the American Imperium. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kissinger, Henry. 1994. Diplomacy. New York: Simon & Schuster Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kissinger, Henry. 2014. World Order. New York: Penguin Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lau, Chloe K.H., Daisy X.F. Fan, Simon Milne, Hanqin Qiu, and Minghui Sun. 2019. Chinese Venturers to Pacific Small Island Developing States: Travel and lifestyle. International Journal of Tourism Research 21 (5): 665–674.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leslie, Helen, and Kirsty Wild. 2017. Post-hegemonic Regionalism in Oceania: Examining the Development Potential of the New Framework for Pacific Regionalism. The Pacific Review 31 (1): 20–37.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lowy Institute. 2019a. Asia Power Index. Sydney: Lowy Institute.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lowy Institute. 2019b. Pacific Aid Map. https://pacificaidmap.lowyinstitute.org/. Accessed 23 Sep 2019.

  • Maclellan, Nic. 2018. The Region in Review: International Issues and Events, 2017. The Contemporary Pacific 30 (2): 462–481.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maclellan, Nic. 2019. The Region in Review: International Issues and Events, 2018. The Contemporary Pacific 31 (2): 498–518.

    Google Scholar 

  • McGann, Steven, and Richard K. Pruett. 2012. A New Strategic Architecture for the Pacific. In Pacific Islands Brief. Honolulu: Pacific Islands Development Program (PIDP).

  • Meick, Ethan, Michelle Ker, and Han May Chan. 2018. China’s Engagement in the Pacific Islands Implications for the United States. In Staff Research Report. Washington D.C.: U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission.

  • Morauta, Mekere, Peseta Noumea Simi, Redley Kilion, Peter Bazeley, and Nick Poletti. 2013. Pacific Plan Review 2013: Report to the Leaders. Suva, Fiji: Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morrison, Scott. 2018. Australia and the Pacific: A New Chapter. Speech by Prime Minister Scott Morrison. https://www.pm.gov.au/media/address-australia-and-pacific-new-chapter. Accessed 3 Oct 2019.

  • NDRC, MFA, and MOFCOM. 2015. Vision and Actions on Jointly Building Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road. http://en.ndrc.gov.cn/newsrelease/201503/t20150330_669367.html. Accessed 26 Sep 2019.

  • NDRC, and SOA. 2017. Vision for Maritime Cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative. http://english.www.gov.cn/archive/publications/2017/06/20/content_281475691873460.htm. Accessed 17 Nov 2019.

  • Newton Cain, Tess. 2015. Rebuild or Reform: Regional and Subregional Architecture in the Pacific Island Region. Le Journal de la Société des Océanistes [En ligne] 140 (6): 49–58.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nye, Joseph S. 1968. Introduction. In International Regionalism: Readings, ed. Joseph S. Nye. Boston: Little, Brown and Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Secretariat, Pacific Islands Forum. 2017. State of Pacific Regionalism: Report 2017. Suva, Fiji: Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat.

    Google Scholar 

  • Secretariat, Pacific Islands Forum. 2018. Final Communiqué. Yaren, Nauru: Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pandey, Pragya. 2019. China’s Push in the South Pacific Regional Geopolitical Implications. In ICWA Issue Brief. New Delhi: Indian Council of World Affairs.

  • Qin, Sheng [秦升]. 2017. Beyond Competitive Aid: New Thinking on the Construction of 21st Century Maritime Silk Road and Economic Development of Pacific Island Countries (超越“竞争性援助” : “21世纪海上丝绸之路”建设与太平洋岛国经济发展的新思考). Pacific Journal (太平洋学报) 25 (9): 47–56.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ratuva, Steven. 2014. A New Regional Cold War? American and Chinese Posturing in the Pacific. Asia & the Pacific Policy Studies 1 (2): 409–422.

    Google Scholar 

  • Russel, Danny. 2016. The Freely Associated States. State Magazine 16 (4): 22–24.

    Google Scholar 

  • Söderbaum, Fredrik. 2004. The Political Economy of Regionalism: the Case of Southern Africa. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Söderbaum, Fredrik. 2016. Rethinking Regionalism. London: Palgrave, Macmillan Publishers Limited.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tarte, Sandra. 2014. Regionalism and Changing Regional Order in the Pacific Islands. Asia & the Pacific Policy Studies 1 (2): 312–324.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tarte, Sandra. 2017. The Changing Paradigm of Pacific Regional Politics. The Round Table 106 (2): 135–142.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tavola, Kaliopate. 2015. Towards a New Regional Diplomacy Architecture. In The New Pacific Diplomacy, eds. Greg Fry and Sandra Tarte, 27–38. Canberra: Australian National University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, Dame Meg. 2015. The Future of the Pacific Islands Forum and the Framework for Pacific Regionalism. In The New Pacific Diplomacy, eds. Greg Fry and Sandra Tarte, 39–48. Canberra: Australian National University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tong, Anote. 2015. “Charting Its Own Course”: A Paradigm Shift in Pacific Diplomacy. In The New Pacific Diplomacy, eds. Greg Fry and Sandra Tarte, 21–24. Canberra: Australian National University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tukuitonga, Colin. 2017. The Future of Pacific Regionalism: Challenges and Prospects. Pacific Dynamics 1 (2): 340–347.

    Google Scholar 

  • UNDP in China. 2017. China’s South-South Cooperation with Pacific Island Countries in the Context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Beijing: United Nations Development Programme (in China).

    Google Scholar 

  • Wade, Geoff. 2015. Are We Fully Aware of China’s ChAFTA Aspirations?. ABC News. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-01/wade-are-we-fully-aware-of-chinas-chafta-aspirations/6985770. Accessed 6 Oct 2019.

  • Wallis, Joanne. 2017. Crowded and Complex: the Changing Geopolitics of the South Pacific. Barton: Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wallis, Joanne, and Anna Powles. 2018. Australia and New Zealand in the Pacific Islands: Ambiguous Allies? In The Centre of Gravity Series, ed. Andrew Carr. Canberra: ANU Strategic and Defence Studies Centre.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang, Shiming. 2019. Open Regionalism and China-Australia Cooperation in the South Pacific Islands Region. China International Studies 2: 84–108.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang, Yiwei. 2016. The Belt and Road Initiative : What Will China Offer the World in Its Rise. Beijing: New World Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Webb, Darryn. 2015. China’s South Pacific Expansion and the Changing Regional Order: A cause for concern to the regional status quo? In Indo-Pacific Styrategic Papers. Canberra: Centre for Defence and Strategic Studies, Australian Defence College.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wesley-Smith, Terence. 2013. China’s Rise in Oceania: Issues and Perspectives. Pacific Affairs 86 (2): 351–372.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wesley-Smith, Terence. 2018. Pacific Uncertainties: Changing Geopolitics and Regional Cooperation in Oceania. In Regionalism in South Pacific, ed. Yu Changsen, 19–35. Beijing: Social Science Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • White, Hugh. 2019. In Denial: Defending Australia as China Looks South. Australian Foreign Affairs 6: 5–28.

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams, Marc, and Duncan McDuie-Ra. 2018. Organizing a Regional Response to Climate Change in the Pacific. In Combatting Climate Change in the Pacific, 13–38. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, Springer International Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Xing, Ruili [邢瑞利]. 2018. The Belt and Road Initiative in the South Pacific: Progression, Challenges and Measures (“一带一路”倡议在南太平洋地区的进展、挑战及应对). Journal of Boundary and Ocean Studies (边界与海洋研究) 3 (3): 92–107.

    Google Scholar 

  • Xu, Xiujun [徐秀军]. 2016. China’s Peripheral Diplomacy in the South Pacific: Development, Opportunities and Challenges (中国的南太平洋周边外交 : 进展、机遇与挑战). Pacific Journal (太平洋学报) 24 (10): 30–38.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yang, Jian. 2011. The Pacific Islands in China’s Grand Strategy: Small States, Big Games. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Young, Jason. 2018. Multilayered Regionalism in Oceania and the Pacific: Seeking Converging Points of Cooperation. In Regionalism in South Pacific, ed. Yu. Changsen, 1–18. Beijing: Social Science Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, Denghua, and Stephanie Lawson. 2017. China in Pacific Regional Politics. The Round Table 106 (2): 197–206.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, Ying [张颖]. 2019. The Belt and Road Initiative in South Pacific Island Countries (试论“一带一路”倡议在南太平洋岛国的实施路径). Pacific Journal (太平洋学报) 27 (1): 93–104.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, Yongjin. 2010. A Regional Power by Default. In China in Oceania: Reshaping the Pacific?, eds. Terence Wesley-Smith and Edgar Porter, 49–66. New York: Berghahn Books.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their helpful and constructive comments.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Renmin University of China, 59 Zhongguancun Street, Beijing, 100872, China

    Xiaochen Chen

Authors
  1. Xiaochen Chen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xiaochen Chen.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Chen, X. China, the United States and changing South Pacific regional order in the 2010s. China Int Strategy Rev. 1, 330–343 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42533-019-00022-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42533-019-00022-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation