China aiming for greater influence with Pacific Islands summit

CHINESE Foreign Minister Wang Yi is set to meet with officials from Pacific Island nations Monday (May 30), a sign of the intensifying competition with the US and Australia for influence in the region.

The summit in Suva, Fiji, will see Wang meet foreign ministers from 10 countries to discuss issues including trade, policing and cybersecurity, Australia's ABC News reported, citing documents it said explain Beijing's plans.

The documents show China is proposing a free-trade deal and a special envoy for the Pacific nations, and that diplomats from the Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Cook Islands, Niue and Federated States of Micronesia are planning to attend.

The summit is a sign of Beijing's desire for greater sway in a region that has traditionally been dominated by Australia and the US. China's push started with the Solomon Islands, which signed a security agreement in April and over the weekend added a deal involving the aviation, tourism and business sectors.

The move has set off alarm bells in Australia, prompting Foreign Minister Penny Wong to visit Fiji within days of her Labor party taking power and promising Canberra's aid to Pacific nations wouldn't come "with strings attached".

It has also spurred more competition between China and the US. Last week, Fiji became the first Pacific Island country to join President Joe Biden's Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, a pact aimed at asserting Washington's leadership in Asia. Micronesian President David Panuelo has criticised China's plans for the region, warning they could spark a Cold War, ABC reported.

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Over the weekend China's Wang hit back at a policy speech given by Secretary of State Antony Blinken that laid out how the US will seek to influence China's behaviour, calling Washington's views of his nation "seriously miscalibrated".

Countries could engage in "fair competition", but it should not turn "vicious", Wang said, adding that China-US ties were "at an important crossroads" and that it was up to Washington to see the right choice was made. BLOOMBERG