Jonah Bock is the Assistant Director for Research at The Alliance Futures Initiative. His own work focuses on strategic competition, Pacific Islands geopolitics, and China's influence in the region. He brings experience spanning policy research, open-source intelligence, and futures analysis — not the kinds he reads in sci-fi.
Background
Prior to joining TAFI, Jonah served as a Senior Research Assistant at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute USA, where he published widely on Pacific Islands affairs in outlets including The Diplomat, The National Interest, and The Strategist. His work has examined topics ranging from U.S. strategic competition with China in the Pacific to Taiwan's diplomatic relationships, naval shipbuilding policy, and the geopolitics of individual island nations such as Palau and Kiribati.
He also held a virtual student federal service internship with the Department of State's East Asia and Pacific Bureau, supporting research on China's efforts to erode Taiwan's diplomatic partnerships in the Pacific.
At TAFI
Jonah produces the PRC Pacific Embassies Monitor, a weekly open-source intelligence product providing systematic tracking of Beijing's public diplomatic activities across the nine Pacific Island Countries hosting Chinese missions.
Education
He holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Affairs from American University's School of International Service, with a minor in Chinese Language. Jonah studied abroad in Taiwan, where he ate very well and took a couple of courses too.
Recent Work
PPEM Dashboard: August 2026 Preview
PRC Pacific Embassies Monitor · Interactive Dashboard
Explore a month of PRC diplomatic activity across nine Pacific posts: 87 events mapped by location, filtered by country, domain and activity type, and linked to the 300-plus officials and organizations involved.
Fiji Sends Civil Servants to China’s Party School
PRC Pacific Embassies Monitor · Wk 34
Twenty-three senior Fijian officials train at the CCP cadre academy in Shanghai and Solomon Islands diplomats complete a course built for them alone; Fiji’s military commander tours two Chinese arms manufacturers and meets a Central Military Commission official; China’s ambassadors are absent across four Pacific posts.
Judges, Governors, and a Princess Visit China
PRC Pacific Embassies Monitor · Wk 33
Samoa’s Chief Justice leads a judicial delegation that meets the CCP’s top political-legal official, a former Minister of State Security; officials from all four FSM states tour Zhejiang; Tonga’s Princess Pilolevu travels to Shenzhen; and China lobbies Pacific missions in Suva for Xiamen’s bid to host the High Seas Treaty secretariat.
Guangdong and its Capital Send Delegations to the Pacific
PRC Pacific Embassies Monitor · Wk 32
Governors from all four FSM states attend a Ministry of Commerce seminar run by the Zhejiang body that doubles as China’s BRICS special economic zones secretariat; a Guangzhou delegation breaks ground on a Chinese-funded square in Naoero while a Guangdong delegation tours Fiji; Ambassador Cai Weiming hands over Honiara buildings damaged in the 2021 unrest.
Eight Pacific States Report to Beijing’s Top Cop
PRC Pacific Embassies Monitor · Wk 31
China’s Minister of Public Security convenes the Fifth Ministerial Dialogue on police cooperation with delegations from eight of the nine Pacific Island Countries hosting Chinese missions; Samoa’s Deputy Prime Minister travels to Shanxi and PNG’s Mining Minister courts investors in Tianjin.
Qian Bo Brings a Ledger to a Check Fight
PRC Pacific Embassies Monitor · Wk 30
China’s Special Envoy Qian Bo catalogues past projects at the Pacific Islands Forum while Washington and Canberra announce new money; Kiribati’s embassy publicizes five donations in a week; Chinese drones reach a third arm of the Vanuatu government.
China Sends for Pacific Students
PRC Pacific Embassies Monitor · Wk 29
Five of China’s nine Pacific embassies hold scholarship and pre-departure ceremonies for students heading to Chinese universities; Ambassador Lyu Jin hosts Naoero’s Acting President nine days before the Pacific Islands Forum, meets Australia’s new High Commissioner, and calls the China-aided sports center a ‘project of the century.’
China Works the Interior
PRC Pacific Embassies Monitor · Wk 28
China’s Ambassador briefs Naoeroan MPs on Beijing’s ethnic unity law and holds a second party-to-party exchange with Vanuatu’s Land and Justice Party; a Chinese diplomat reaches the Solomon Islands’ Temotu Province for the first time.
Close Protection, Aerial Surveillance, and a Spy Ship in Suva
PRC Pacific Embassies Monitor · Wk 27
China’s Police Liaison Team completes close protection training for the RSIPF officers who guard the Solomon Islands’ political leadership; the embassy in Port Vila donates drones to Vanuatu Correctional Services; Beijing’s defence attaché in Suva marks the return of a donated hydrographic survey ship.
Beijing Sends Buyers to Port Moresby
PRC Pacific Embassies Monitor · Wk 26
A PetroChina delegation lands in Port Moresby days after Taiwan suspends spot LNG purchases; Guangdong signs a media letter of intent in Apia; China’s National Immigration Administration donates six vehicles to the Solomon Islands Immigration Division.
China’s Model on the Offensive
TAFI Perspective
Beijing’s 15th Five-Year Plan promotion in the Pacific Islands is a governance-model export. All nine PRC embassies have run coordinated advocacy, and in Naoero, Kiribati, and Tonga they moved past description into offering to help host governments design their strategies along Chinese lines.
China Addresses Taiwan Holdouts
PRC Pacific Embassies Monitor · Wk 25
Chinese diplomats publish one-China principle op-eds in Fiji and the FSM using PNG’s Taipei office closure as their opening; Liu Weimin defends the missile test in Tonga; China hands over 161 CHEC/Huawei-built telecom towers in the Solomon Islands.