China’s Foreign Policy in the Pacific Islands Region: A Network Analysis Perspective

This paper analyzes the foreign policy of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in the South Pacific, understood here as the Pacific Islands Region, through the lens of network analysis. The region is approached as a dynamic relational space shaped by geopolitical competition, growing interdependence, and the strategic activity of regional and external actors. China’s expanding diplomatic, economic, developmental, and security engagement has contributed to changes in regional architecture, while also prompting renewed activity among traditional powers, particularly Australia, the United States, New Zealand, France, the United Kingdom, or Japan. The paper argues that these processes have accelerated the networkization of regional politics, understood as the expansion, densification, and reconfiguration of ties among Pacific Island Countries and external actors. Social network analysis is used as a methodological complement to existing studies of the region, offering tools for examining relational structures that are difficult to capture through conventional state-centric and 'static' approaches. By focusing on connectivity, brokerage, centrality, and actor positioning, this approach makes it possible to assess not only the scope of China’s regional engagement, but also its structural location within wider systems of interaction. Methodologically, the paper employs a mixed-method network analysis conducted in R. The quantitative component maps selected diplomatic, economic, development-related, and security ties, applying measures such as degree, betweenness, and eigenvector centrality. This allows China’s position to be examined in terms of both its regional connections and its brokerage potential within broader structures of interdependence. The qualitative component complements this mapping by examining selected agreements and cooperation frameworks, particularly in the security domain. The analysis focuses on four dimensions of regional interaction: diplomacy, economy, development assistance, and security. It argues that although China has expanded its presence in the region, its position remains uneven and constrained across key domains. In development assistance, China remains a secondary actor rather than a dominant donor, while in security its role is particularly restricted. Regional security networks continue to be shaped primarily by Australia, the United States, also: New Zealand, France, and their partners. China’s influence should therefore be understood not as linear expansion or regional dominance, but as an uneven, contested, and domain-specific process of network embeddedness. The paper also highlights the agency of Pacific Island Countries in shaping the evolving regional order.