China's Growing Influence Reshapes South Pacific

An idyllic region a heart of geostrategic tensions

By: Jerome Lizambard

Back in 2012, Henry Puna, then the prime minister of the Pacific nation of Cook Islands, visited the University of South Pacific in Fiji and he laid out his vision for the region. His address talked about ‘reimagining the Pacific,’ changing the perception of the ocean nations from tiny islands to “large ocean island states”, and lay…