PRC Pacific Embassies Monitor: Week 1

February 9 – 15, 2026

PRC Pacific Embassies Monitor*
Week 1 — February 9 – 15, 2026
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Last Week in the Pacific: Lunar New Year Comes to the Pacific, David Adeang in Guangdong, and More

Ambassador’s Corner

China’s Ambassador to Vanuatu Li Minggang met with Ilan Kiloe, Acting Director of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG). The Ambassador discussed cooperation in areas like culture, economy, and trade and cited Xi Jinping’s “four full respects.”

Kiloe thanked China for its support of the group—possibly referencing the secretariat building China built 20 years ago—and reciprocated by expressing support for the one-China principle.

The MSG offers China increased access to several critical actors. For example, the New Caledonian separatist party FLNKS, which has links to Beijing, is an MSG member. The group’s efforts to align countries on security matters may also give China a backchannel voice into countries like PNG where it has a limited security presence.

Summary of PRC Activity

With the Lunar New Year Festival, China’s embassies across the Pacific focused on mixing soft power with political goals. Nauru’s President David Adeang traveled to his ancestral homeland, China, and met with Chinese enterprises doing business in Nauru. China’s embassies distributed “warmth packages” to overseas Chinese while reinforcing their oversight roles. Lunar New Year festivals held across the region drew political leaders who gave speeches reaffirming the one-China principle.

This Week’s Big Themes:

The Homecoming Strategy: President Adeang’s Trip to China

Nauru’s President David Adeang spent the past week in Guangdong—his second visit since Nauru re-recognized China in 2025. The trip was ostensibly to visit his ancestral homeland—his maternal great grandfather came from China—but Adeang fit in several business meetings. He met with state-owned enterprises including Sinohydro and China Machinery Engineering Corporation, and had a Willy Wonka-style tour of the Amos Food Group’s candy factory. Amid the meetings and “hometown” visits, Adeang signed a new fisheries agreement with China National Fisheries Corporation.

Supporting Events

Warmth Packages and Safety Oversight

China’s embassies distributed “warmth packages” to overseas Chinese in their host countries for the Lunar New Year holiday. So far, ambassadors have delivered these packages in Fiji, FSM, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, and Tonga with more distribution likely to follow. The gifts doubled as an opportunity for embassies to remind overseas Chinese communities of their ties to China. In PNG, the Ambassador instructed representatives of Chinese enterprises to “operate in compliance with laws and regulations [and] strengthen unity and mutual assistance.” In the Solomon Islands, Ambassador Cai Weiming skipped the warmth altogether, offering only the oversight guidelines. Some members of Cai’s audience affirmed that they will follow these guidelines “so as to contribute to the China-Solomon Islands cooperation.”

Supporting Events

Lunar New Year and Political Affirmations

Seven of nine Chinese embassies in the Pacific held Lunar New Year Festivals. The ambassadors delivered speeches covering shared talking points—Chinese Modernization, the 20th Party Congress, and bi-lateral friendship—though events differed in audience and tone. The embassy in Micronesia hosted overseas Chinese, while the others focused on local audiences. Several embassies drew high-level guests, including the PNG Foreign Minister, the Samoan Deputy Prime Minister, the Solomon Islands Prime Minister, and the Kiribati President. Each leader affirmed cooperation with China and reiterated support for the one-China Principle. Across these events, China seamlessly fused people-to-people exchanges with its political goals in the Pacific.

Supporting Events

* The PRC Pacific Embassies Monitor provides systematic, open-source tracking of Beijing’s public diplomatic activities across the nine Pacific Island Countries hosting Chinese missions. The monitor captures official embassy social media and website posts, supplemented by local sources, to offer a weekly structured intelligence report that bridges critical information gaps on regional engagement.