PRC Pacific Embassies Monitor: Week 33

September 21, 2026 – Sep 27, 2026

PRC Pacific Embassies Monitor*
Week 33 — September 21, 2026 – Sep 27, 2026
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Judges, Governors, and a Princess Visit China — Last Week in the Pacific

Ambassador’s Corner

The Solomon Islands Ministry of Communication and Aviation announced that construction of the new Aviation Complex Building at Henderson is nearly complete.

The World Bank financed the project through the Second Solomon Islands Roads and Aviation Project (SIRAP2); China Railway Construction Engineering Group built it—Western money, Chinese contractor. Installing a transformer and completing IT hardware remains unfinished.

The ground carries history. Japanese forces built the airfield in 1942, US Marines seized it that August. Eighty-four years later, a Chinese state-owned contractor is building on the same site.

Summary of PRC Activity

Three Pacific delegations toured China last week. Samoa’s Chief Justice led a judicial delegation that met the CCP’s top political-legal official. Pohnpei’s governor led officials from all four FSM states through Zhejiang. Tonga’s Princess Pilolevu traveled with the Tonga China Friendship Association (TCFA) to Shenzhen and Nanjing. In Suva, China’s envoy for the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) treaty lobbied Pacific heads of mission for Xiamen’s bid to host the treaty secretariat. Embassies across the region marked the PRC’s 77th founding anniversary and the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Samoan Chief Justice Perese with Secretary Chen.
Samoan Chief Justice Perese with Secretary Chen.
(Source: Ministry of Justice & Courts Administration)

This Week’s Big Themes:

Samoa’s Chief Justice Meets China’s Spymaster

Samoa’s Chief Justice Satiu Simativa Perese led a delegation to China at the invitation of the Supreme People’s Court (SPC). In Beijing, the delegation met SPC President and PRC Chief Justice Zhang Jun, then the Chairman of the People’s Court Press to discuss judicial AI applications. Perese met separately with the Vice President of the Beijing High People’s Court and with Special Envoy Qian Bo. In Shenzhen, the delegation attended the China Forum on International Legal Cooperation, where Perese delivered remarks. The Samoan Ministry of Justice and Courts Administration (MJCA) highlighted technology applications as the delegation’s primary focus.

On the conference sidelines, the delegation met Chen Wenqing, Secretary of the Commission of Political and Legal Affairs and a Politburo member. Chen headed the Ministry of State Security (MSS) from 2016 to 2022—China’s foreign intelligence and domestic counterintelligence service. In his current role, Chen oversees all of China’s law enforcement bodies, including the MSS and the Supreme People’s Court.

The Chief Justice’s visit was the apex of a month of Samoa-China judicial engagement. Three MJCA employees completed an 11-day seminar for judicial officials from Belt and Road countries, touring “smart courts” in Beijing and Nanjing, and observing Chinese proceedings. Samoa’s Assistant Attorney General and another MJCA official attended a separate seminar on AI justice and crime prevention, which included a simulation exercise at a “smart prison” facility at Beijing College of Politics and Law. Since July, Wang Lin—a postgraduate student from Guangdong University of Foreign Studies—has been embedded inside the MJCA on a three-month attachment.

Supporting Events

Seventy-Seven Years and Mooncakes

National Day receptions drew senior officials across the region. In the FSM, President Wesley Simina and former President Peter Christian joined nearly 200 guests. In Fiji, Acting President Salesi Temo attended; Chargé d’Affaires Wang Yuan promoted the Four Global Initiatives and the 15th Five-Year Plan. In Vanuatu, President Vurobaravu, Prime Minister Napat, and Speaker Felix attended a reception hosted by Chargé d’Affaires Gu Zihua, where a visiting Zigong City delegation displayed the city’s local crafts. Samoa’s embassy held a youth gathering rather than a full reception. Ambassador Fei Mingxing addressed the group by video, urging Samoan youth to become “advocates of the four global initiatives.”

The Mid-Autumn Festival followed. In PNG, Ambassador Yang Xiaoguang visited the Chinese medical team. In Fiji, the embassy co-hosted a China-Fiji choral concert. In Naoero, Ambassador Lyu Jin and all embassy staff marked the Mid-Autumn Festival with more than 100 overseas Chinese at a gathering hosted by the China-Naoero Chamber of Commerce. The readout appeared only on the embassy’s Chinese-language website.

The chamber itself is worth a closer look. It launched on 20 August 2025 at a ceremony attended by Lyu and Acting President Lionel Aingimea, with Zhen Xiyi, a Yaren grocer for more than 30 years, as its president. Lyu tasked the chamber with three roles: trade bridge, “strong backing” for overseas Chinese, and “new force in people-to-people diplomacy.” It moved quickly into political work. Within months of its launch, it issued a “stern statement” condemning Japanese leaders’ remarks on China—and the embassy published it in full on its official channels. In June 2026, Zhen accompanied Lyu on visits to Chinese enterprises, where Lyu pledged “zero tolerance” for crimes against compatriots. Most chamber-related activity appears only on the embassy’s Chinese-language site—visible to Naoero’s Chinese community and to Beijing but not to English-speaking audiences.

Supporting Events

FSM States’ Delegation Tours China’s Coast

The MOFCOM-sponsored Seminar for Trade Promotion for the FSM moved from Hangzhou to Ningbo and Yiwu last week. Pohnpei Governor Stevenson Joseph continued leading the four-state delegation. In Ningbo, the delegation toured Geely’s new energy vehicle plant—where hosts discussed potential sales cooperation—and the automated Ningbo-Zhoushan Port, which handles among the highest cargo tonnage of any port in the world. The delegation also visited Ningbo Today Food, a state-owned tuna processor that sourced 20,000-30,000 metric tons from Micronesia in 2024. The Pohnpei government’s release cited Ningbo’s automated port operations and the tuna processors’ Micronesian sourcing as “scalable models” for Pohnpei’s infrastructure, export markets, and local revenue.

In Yiwu, hosts briefed the delegation on China’s trade with African countries and the city’s role as a trade gateway—a framing that positions Yiwu as a model for south-south commerce. YAKI, an import/export firm, presented its integrated trade services, which include hardware, appliances, and photovoltaic energy storage. In a separate meeting, managers from Hunan International Engineering Construction Company, which runs the China Pilot Farm in Pohnpei, discussed the farm’s progress with the governor.

A separate delegation from the Yap State Legislature toured Zhejiang Province from 24 August to 7 September. Four Yap State senators attended a friendly exchange workshop in Beijing and Zhejiang, visiting Ningbo, Zhoushan, Shengzhou, and Hangzhou to study marine development, port infrastructure, grassroots governance, and rural revitalization. While Governor Joseph’s delegation is Pohnpei heavy, Yap’s legislators received their own tailored itinerary covering the same sites—two tracks with the same curriculum.

Supporting Events

Princesses, Provinces, and Sister Cities

On her third high-level trip to China, HRH Princess Salote Pilolevu Tuita and her husband Lord Tuita led a delegation of Tonga-China Friendship Association (TCFA) and Pacific-China Friendship Association (PCFA) members. Princess Tuita established the TCFA and chairs the PCFA, a Pacific-wide body headquartered in Tongatapu—a detail that places the regional association’s center of gravity in Tonga and under royal leadership. In Shenzhen, she delivered a keynote at the International Conference on Pacific Ocean Science Cooperation & Sustainable Future Development and joined a PCFA symposium.

China Makes Its BBNJ Pitch Through the Cook Islands

Yi Xianliang, China’s Special Envoy for BBNJ Secretariat Affairs, spent 21-22 September in Suva promoting Xiamen’s bid to host the High Seas Treaty’s permanent secretariat. Chargé d’Affaires Wang Yuan arranged a meeting with the Cook Islands High Commission, where Yi outlined Xiamen’s bid and support package—free premises and accommodation, five years of utility costs, and a US$3 million fund for developing-country delegates.

* 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.