China’s Ambition in the Pacific: Worldwide Geopolitical Issues

The phenomenal economic ascent of China since the early 1980’s fully modified the international geopolitical relations in the era of globalization. Chinese capitals and workers are omnipresent in Africa, Eurasia symbolizes the Chinese government’s willingness to establish a new Silk Road and the regionalization of Chinese interests in Asia replaces the Middle Kingdom at the spotlight of the international community’s attention. The Pacific does not escape to the phenomenon and the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) meticulously pilots its relation in this region, according to its present and future interests.

The Pacific, immense maritime territory, often incorrectly represented in European maps, is a region characterized by its insularity and its remoteness from the major commercial roads. It is difficult to define geographically such a vast area, but it is generally acknowledged that Australia and the emerged lands of the South Pacific form the 5^th continent of Oceania. In the present report, “the Pacific” will be defined as a global region, gathering the vast ocean and the neighboring countries. The coherence of this choice is illustrated by the progressive incorporation of these countries in the Asia-Pacific Region.

In this context, we will try to describe how China, as a new major economic power, exercises a fundamental influence in the Pacific, a region that returns to the center of the major international problems at the beginning of the 21^th century…