China’s Strategy Toward Pacific Island countries: Countering Taiwan and Western Influence
Over the past decade, China has deployed a diplomatic strategy toward the Pacific Island Countries (PICs). This strategy pursues two main objectives: countering Taiwan's diplomatic influence in the region and countering the influence of liberal democracies in what Beijing refers to as the "Global South."
Initially, Beijing adopted a cautious and discreet approach, but it shifted to a more assertive stance from 2021 onward, with varying degrees of success.
A central driver of China’s strategy is reducing Taiwan’s diplomatic presence. Beijing has successfully persuaded countries such as the Solomon Islands, Kiribati, and Nauru to switch recognition from Taipei, while pressuring PICs to limit Taiwan’s participation in regional fora. Nonetheless, resistance persists, and upcoming Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) leadership may reopen space for Taiwan.
China has also increased its military footprint through naval deployments, port calls, and security cooperation. However, the region’s logistical constraints and strong ties with Australia limit Beijing’s defense influence. Public security agreements—especially with the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu—raise concerns about political interference.
Despite China’s growing aid and presence, Australia remains the dominant development and security partner.
Amid China's growing influence in the South Pacific and the US retreat from multilateralism, the European Union (EU) has a role to play in:
- Strengthening support and coordination with Australia and New Zealand, as well as with France, to enhance maritime security, climate change resilience, and multilateral governance.
- Using European space-based assets to contribute to monitoring the Pacific region for both security and environmental outcomes.
- Supporting the G7 expansion to Australia to promote multilateralism and rules: based international order.
Download the full ReConnect China Policy Brief 31 here.
Available in:
Themes and regions
Share
Center for Asian Studies
Asia is a nerve center for multiple global economic, political and security challenges. The Center for Asian Studies provides documented expertise and a platform for discussion on Asian issues to accompany decision makers and explain and contextualize developments in the region for the sake of a larger public dialogue.
The Center's research is organized along two major axes: relations between Asia's major powers and the rest of the world; and internal economic and social dynamics of Asian countries. The Center's research focuses primarily on China, Japan, India, Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific, but also covers Southeast Asia, the Korean peninsula and the Pacific Islands.
The Centre for Asian Studies maintains close institutional links with counterpart research institutes in Europe and Asia, and its researchers regularly carry out fieldwork in the region.
The Center organizes closed-door roundtables, expert-level seminars and a number of public events, including an Annual Conference, that welcome experts from Asia, Europe and the United States. The work of Center’s researchers, as well as that of their partners, is regularly published in the Center’s electronic journal Asie.Visions.
The Oceania Factor in France’s Evolving Indo-Pacific Strategy
This paper examines the two-way relationship between France’s Indo-Pacific strategy and developments in Oceania. Oceania was not a priority in the initial years of France’s Indo-Pacific strategy, as the region was largely treated as secondary to major strategic hotspots and key partnerships, while overseas territories were primarily handled as domestic issues and recipients of a top-down strategy.
France’s View: From Diplomacy to Public-Private Action
France has emerged as the EU’s IMEC forerunner, combining port infrastructure, diplomatic alliances and public-private cooperation. With Marseille Fos at its core, the country brings a strategic hub for logistics, energy and digital connectivity to the corridor.
Trump II, the Crisis of the Rules-Based Order and Europe’s Indo-Pacific Strategy
This article examines the implications of Trump II for Europe’s engagement in the Indo-Pacific. The piece contends that Trump II is accelerating the erosion of the rules-based order and undermining the relevance of the Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) concept, while forcing Europe to refocus on its own continental security amid US retrenchment. Paradoxically, these very constraints create conditions for a more autonomous, pragmatic, and explicitly interest-driven European engagement in the Indo-Pacific, rather than outright withdrawal.
China and Trade in Critical Raw Materials (CRMs)
Critical raw materials (CRMs) have become central features of a new dynamic in global power politics, with China now wielding considerable leverage. Amid rising regional and global uncertainty, resource security is back in the spotlight as a key determinant of sovereignty and national security for Europe, its allies and its partners. The very survival of key, even vital industries, from automotive to aerospace to health to energy to defense, is at stake.