New Zealand

China’s new red line: Sanctioning foreign lawmakers over Taiwan visits

Following a visit to Taiwan, four New Zealand MPs have been banned from entering mainland China for one year. Is this truly justified as Beijing feels, or is it an overreaction that signals greater confidence on China’s part? Lianhe Zaobao associate China news editor Sim Tze Wei tells us more.

Sim Tze Wei

08 Jun 2026

China’s Pacific push isn’t a clean sweep

The 54th Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting in the Solomon Islands highlights the region as a geopolitical battleground, with Pacific nations increasingly aligning with China amid the China-Taiwan rivalry, while traditional powers lose ground. Yet defiant holdouts like Palau resist, urging a stronger US presence. Academic Ghulam Ali analyses the situation.

Ghulam Ali

30 Sep 2025

America’s Pacific retreat: China’s advance?

The Trump administration’s global tariffs, withdrawal of USAID activities and review of AUKUS are prompting Oceanian countries to reconsider their policies and look to China as an alternative partner, says academic Ghulam Ali. 

Ghulam Ali

05 Aug 2025

China’s live-fire drills: A show of force in the Pacific?

Australia and New Zealand’s reactions to the PLA Navy’s recent live-fire drills off the shores of their waters reflect the intensity of their concerns regarding China’s growing naval power and presence in their backyards, says academic Ghulam Ali.

Ghulam Ali

03 Mar 2025

China-Cook Islands deal raises New Zealand’s concern

Cook Islands, which has a “free association” relationship with New Zealand, moved closer to China with their recent comprehensive strategic partnership agreement. Even as New Zealand raised concerns about the changing dynamics, this situation has recast the spotlight on China’s growing influence in the Pacific region, says academic Ghulam Ali.

Ghulam Ali

20 Feb 2025

Fiji an important regional power broker as great power politics intensifies in the Pacific

The recent elections in Fiji resulted in the first democratic transition since 2014 after three opposition parties narrowly voted for a pro-Western coalition government with Sitiveni Rabuka as the new prime minister. The election outcome also has geopolitical implications considering the growing US-China confrontation in the Pacific and the renewed US re-engagement in the South Pacific with a focus on Fiji.

Anne-Marie Schleich

09 Jan 2023

ASEAN needs to watch the US-China strategic competition in the Pacific

Beijing's recent moves to establish security cooperation with Pacific island states have riled the US and Australia. Among the places that China has made moves is the Solomon Islands, where Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and US security advisor Kurt Campbell have each visited within the past three months. ASEAN needs to closely watch the ongoing great power competition there to draw lessons for its own security.

Daljit Singh

01 Aug 2022

What a 'resurrected' NATO means for China and the world

The recent NATO summit in Madrid seems to indicate that NATO is making a comeback in full force. For China, painted as presenting "systemic challenges" to NATO, this should sound a warning that when the time is ripe for the US to contain China, key countries in the Asia-Pacific and the EU will not be on its side.

Han Yong Hong

01 Jul 2022

China at the centre of the world's politics

Former journalist Goh Choon Kang observes that whether it is the discussions at the recently concluded Shangri-La Dialogue or the larger machinations of geopolitics, it cannot be denied that having China in the picture changes many things, and perhaps even provides countries with more strategic options.

Goh Choon Kang

29 Jun 2022

Solomon Islands: Will China pick up the gun to defend its interests in the developing world?

Loro Horta notes that the US, Australia and New Zealand have been overly fixated on China possibly building a military base in the Solomon Islands. If anything, the security pact signals China's greater willingness to be more interventionist in its approach to other countries. If so, this is the true shift in policy that the West should be worried about.

Loro Horta

04 May 2022

China-Solomon Islands security pact: Alarm bells ringing for Australia and New Zealand?

Dr Anne-Marie Schleich, a former German ambassador to New Zealand, explains why Australia and New Zealand are worried about a new security deal inked between China and Solomon Islands. Have they not been paying enough attention to their own backyard?

Anne-Marie Schleich

01 Apr 2022

Will China-Solomon Islands security cooperation bring new tensions to the South Pacific?

The new policing and security agreements between China and the Solomon Islands have neighbouring countries such as Australia and New Zealand anxious about the potential militarisation of the region. Zaobao correspondent Edwin Ong warns that small island nations in the South Pacific must be careful about choosing sides so as not to become pawns in great power competition.

Edwin Ong

31 Mar 2022