China’s engagement with the region has led to a deluge of media commentary, much of which misses the voices of Pacific Islanders and Chinese nationals in its focus on geostrategic competition between China and the United States. This research strand examines multiple dimensions of this growing relationship—from aid and investment to migration and issues of extraterritoriality--keeping a tight focus on the actors directly involved on the ground.
by Roan Paul
Projects / Initiatives
Denghua Zhang leads the team’s research into PRC aid to the Pacific, drawing on his ground-breaking doctoral research, which examined why China was experimenting with trilateral cooperation in the Cook Islands, Timor-Leste and Cambodia. Drawing on Dr Zhang’s experience as a PRC diplomat in the Pacific, his research explores the motivations and identities which drive China’s aid program in the region. He has also done extensive comparative research, partnering with researchers to compare Chinese aid practices with those of Taiwan, India and Australia, as well as analogous regions, such as the Caribbean. An emerging strand of his research examines Pacific community attitudes towards Chinese aid, investment, scholarships and migration.
Graeme Smith’s current research, partnering with Oxford University’s China, Law and Development project, aims to map incidents of extraterritorial behaviour by the PRC in policing, specifically those involving the extradition of Chinese nationals from the Pacific. The project will compile a global database and examine the events surrounding the extradition of PRC citizens from Vanuatu in 2019 (the PlusToken Six) and Fiji (77 PRC nationals) in 2017. Both incidents had a strong performative element, similar to contemporaneous mass arrests of PRC and Taiwanese nationals in Southeast Asia and Africa. By looking at these incidents in a comparative international context, the research activity will look to equip policymakers to better deal with future approaches from PRC government agencies looking to exercise power over their citizens in the Pacific. Associate Professor Smith also co-hosts the Little Red Podcast and edits The China Story.
Peter Connolly’s recently-completed PhD dissertation, Chinese interests in Melanesia, drew on extensive research in China, PNG, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji and Timor-Leste. This involved research in economics, politics and security at both the national and the grassroots levels in Melanesia, enabling a dynamic comparison of China’s interests and influence across Melanesia as they have increased under Xi Jinping’s leadership.
- DP 2023/1 Mapping PRC Companies in the Pacific
- IB 2022/13 How the China Card is Played in New Caledonia
- IB 2021/33 Pacific Regionalism: Opportunities and Challenges
- IB 2021/31 Ain’t No Sunshine when Xi’s Gone: What’s behind China’s Declining Aid to the Pacific?
- IB 2021/21 China–Pacific Tourism Engagement: Opportunities and Challenges
- Smith, Grame, and Terence Wesley-Smith. The China Alternative: Changing Regional Order in the Pacific Islands. ANU Press (2021).
- IB 2021/9 Chinese Scholarly Interest in the Pacific
- IB 2021/3 China's Third White Paper on Foreign Aid — A Comparative Analysis
- IB 2020/10 China’s Coronavirus ‘COVID-19 Diplomacy’ in the Pacific
- Zhang, Denghua. A Cautious New Approach: China's Growing Trilateral Aid Cooperation ANU Press (2020)
- IB 2020/29 China’s Media Strategy in the Pacific
- IB 2020/26 Pacific Island Leaders’ Addresses to the 2020 UN General Assembly in the Context of Big Power Competition Part One: Shared Concerns and Implications
- IB 2020/27 Pacific Island Leaders' Addresses to the 2020 UN General Assembly in the Context of Big Power Competition Part Two: Special Concerns and Implications
- Zhang, Denghua. and Bernard Yegiora. What do people in the Pacific really think of China? It’s more nuanced than you may imagine. The Conversation (2023).
- Smith, Graeme, and Henryk Szadziewski. Both the US and Australia are adamant the Pacific “matters”. But only one is really moving the dial. The Conversation (2023).
- Zhang, Denghua. Perceptions of China’s Influence in the Pacific: Chinese and Pacific Perspectives. Australian Outlook (2023).
- Zhang, Denghua. China's diplomacy and diaspora perceptions: Evidence from the Pacific region. Asia & Pacific Policy Studies 10:1-3 (2023): 46-62.
- Zhang, Denghua. China-Pacific Islands Economic Relations under the Belt and Road. East Asian Policy 15:3 (2023):82-97.
- Zhang, Denghua. Beijing Reshapes its Pacific Strategy, in Linda Jaivin, Esther Sunkyung Klein and Annie Luman Ren (eds), The China Story Yearbook 2022: Chains, Canberra: ANU Press (2023): 255-259.
- Luan, Shuo. “Chinese Pacificsm?” Exploring Chinese News Media Representations of Pacific Island Countries. Pacific Island Studies 45:2 (2022): 157-186.
- Zhang, Denghua. The concept of ‘community of common destiny’ in China's diplomacy: Meaning, motives and implications. Asia & the Pacific Policy Studies 5:2 (2018): 196-207.
- Zhang, Denghua, and Graeme Smith. China’s foreign aid system: structure, agencies, and identities. Third World Quarterly 38:10 (2017): 2330-2346.
- Peter J. Connolly. Engaging China’s new foreign policy in the South Pacific, Australian Journal of International Affairs, 70:5 (2016): 484-505.
- Smith, Graeme. Chinese reactions to anti-Asian riots in the Pacific. The Journal of Pacific History 47:1 (2012): 93-109.