Wen Jiabao (
Wen starts his trip in Fiji where he will meet leaders from eight island nations in the tourist town of Nadi for the first ever China-Pacific Islands Countries Economic Development and Cooperation Forum.
But six island nations which recognize Taiwan instead of China will be missing, highlighting the long-running competition for recognition between Beijing and Taipei in the region.
Only 26 countries recognize Taiwan, and nearly a quarter of them are from the Pacific.
The evidence of the rivalry is everywhere in the Pacific.
Samoa's largest building, the five-story government office, was built with Chinese aid. Dollar diplomacy by both Beijing and Taipei is responsible for many buildings, agriculture projects and other initiatives across the region.
Taiwan's supporters include some of the poorest and smallest countries in the region -- Nauru, Palau, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Kiribati and the Marshall Islands. Some have shifted alliances a number of times and become adept at virtually auctioning themselves off to the highest bidder.
Both China and Taiwan have been accused of interfering in the political process in island countries by handing out cash to their favored politicians.
The allegations have been made against Taiwan most recently in the current Solomon Islands election campaign but denied by Taipei and the Solomons government.
Associate professor John Henderson of Canterbury University in Christchurch, New Zealand, said China's new diplomatic push was partly aimed at preventing Taiwan getting any further recognition in the region but it goes beyond that.
"The main thing is symbolism. China taking its leadership role in the region seriously," he said.
"They want to get recognition of a country which is certainly destined to play a major role in the region. It's recognition of an emerging major power."
The traditional powers in the region -- the US and Europe, Australia, New Zealand -- have to learn to work alongside China, and island countries have another option for aid and political support, he said.
China has been gaining influence in the Pacific for many years, with a regular procession of Pacific Islands politicians getting five-star treatment during visits to Beijing.
"There have been more Pacific Islands minister visits to China than to any other country," said University of the South Pacific emeritus professor Ron Crocombe.
He said the engagement with China was part of the region turning increasingly to Asia, with Japan also increasing its diplomacy though efforts including the annual summit between Tokyo and regional leaders.
"The whole balance of power is going to swing to Asia," Crocombe said.
Most Pacific towns have an established Chinese population and they have been joined by a new wave of immigrants in the last two decades. Some came as a result of passport selling schemes by countries such as Tonga, Nauru and the Marshall Islands in the 1990s.
Concerns have been raised about a number of criminals among the newer arrivals. These were heightened in Fiji in 2004 when several Chinese were arrested in Suva after a police raid on the largest methamphetamine laboratory ever discovered in the southern hemisphere.
The main focus of the conference will be on economic cooperation and China is already active in fisheries, while a few of the larger island countries also offer timber and mineral resources.
In January, resource-hungry China and Papua New Guinea signed a deal to develop the latter's gas reserves and late last year also agreed to develop a cobalt and nickel mine. Trade between the island countries and China grew 58 percent to US$838 million last year, according to Chinese figures.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
The National Immigration Agency has banned two Chinese from returning to Taiwan, after they published social media content it described as disrespectful to national sovereignty. The agency imposed a two-month ban on a Chinese man surnamed Liang (梁) and a permanent ban on a woman surnamed Yang (楊), an influencer with 23 million followers, in October last year and last week respectively. Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) yesterday said on the sidelines of a legislative meeting that Chinese visitors to Taiwan are required to comply with the rules and regulations governing their entry permits. The government has handled the ban and
RSS