Looking south: China's oceanic relations

This chapter explores China's relations with Oceania—a region not on China's immediate periphery, but one that nonetheless remains an important element in China's pursuit of its twin goals of economic development and national resilience. This chapter first broadly considers China's relations with its three partners in Oceania (Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific islands). Of the three, China's relations with Australia are the most substantive and complex. Thus, due to space limitations, these ties will be examined chronologically before considering the comparatively less-developed Sino-New Zealand and China-South Pacific relations in terms of their main political, economic and socio-cultural aspects. It will be shown that China takes a different approach to each of these partners through the lens of its own national self-interest, and it will be demonstrated how these approaches are framed by the larger context of China's peripheral area engagement. This chapter will conclude with an analysis of the implications of these patterns for understanding Chinese foreign policy, as well as the significance of these regional ties for China's other relationships. © Routledge 2010.