By Alexandre Dayant and Jonathan Pryke
Concern about China’s aid investments in the Pacific Islands region have reached a fever pitch in the last year, with the general public waking up to the reality of the Pacific as a contested geopolitical space. China’s engagement, of course, has not happened overnight. There are even diaspora connections that date back generations. China began stepping up its engagement in 2006 when it held the first China-Pacific Island Countries Economic Development and Cooperation Forum, pledging increased funding to the eight countries with which it has diplomatic relations. The 2015 (updated in 2016) the Lowy Institute’s Chinese Aid in the Pacific Map revealed the full scale of how far that funding has grown.
While China has been making the headlines, today’s release of the Lowy Institute Pacific Aid Map reveals that China isn’t the only nontraditional partner that has been busy in the region. Taiwan has been eagerly shoring up its relationships as well.
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