Chinese Strategy in the Freely Associated States and American Territories in the Pacific: Implications for the United States

Abstract

or decades, Beijing considered the Pacific Islands part of China's "periphery" [zhoubian], or neighboring region. 3 Despite their geostrategic value to Japan during World War II, Beijing had virtually ignored this part of the world in favor of focusing on "major powers," such as the United States and Russia, as well as countries that share borders with China and other parts of the developing world, such as Africa. In recent years, however, Chinese attention has increasingly included Oceania, probably in no small part due to China's growing economic and military power and corresponding global interests. Indeed, Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2015 referred to the South Pacific as the "southern leg" of the "Maritime Silk Road," which eventually became part of the global investment and infrastructure program, known as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and his signature economic program. 41 The opinions and conclusions expressed in this testimony are the author's alone and should not be interpreted as representing those of the RAND Corporation or any of the sponsors of its research. 2 The RAND Corporation is a research organization that develops solutions to public policy challenges to help make communities throughout the world safer and more secure, healthier and more prosperous. RAND is nonprofit, nonpartisan, and committed to the public interest. RAND's mission is enabled through its core values of quality and objectivity and its commitment to integrity and ethical behavior. RAND subjects its research publications to a robust and exacting quality-assurance process; avoids financial and other conflicts of interest through staff training, project screening, and a policy of mandatory disclosure; and pursues transparency through the open publication of research findings and recommendations, disclosure of the source of funding of published research, and policies to ensure intellectual independence. This testimony is not a research publication, but witnesses affiliated with RAND routinely draw on relevant research conducted in the organization.