ABSTRACT
In this chapter, Denghua Zhang outlines China’s security engagement and argues that how engagement is perceived and received is equally important, if not more so, than how much partner states spend or do in the region. Zhang notes that there is limited research on China’s evolving security outlook and shared security interests with the Pacific within the Chinese scholarly literature. Chinese security cooperation with Pacific Island countries has increased in recent years, through aid and technical training to the PNG Defence Force, military aid to Fiji, Tonga and Vanuatu, and in 2021 China sent military attachés to Fiji and PNG. Therefore, Zhang asks three key questions: what are Chinese security interests? How is the Pacific Islands region relevant to these interests? And how do Chinese and Pacific actors perceive security cooperation?
