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This article examines the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) diplomatic relations with China, and its search for greater autonomy through financial and political independence as its current Compact of Free Association with the United States comes up for review in 2023. The article draws on diplomatic histories overlooked in existing analyses of regional diplomacy in which Micronesians explore alternative options for how to best advance their collective future interests. These Micronesian narratives demonstrate that external powers and aid donors should not take their influence for granted, nor necessarily correlate their largesse with local respect. The priorities of Pacific nations are increasingly focused on mitigating the existential threat of climate change to their environments. Avoidable environmental damage to a reef in Pohnpei by the Chinese fishing vessel Ping Da 7 in late 2013 and subsequent refusals to remove the grounded vessel and clean up the damage provide just one example of the FSM having to review their external relations in response to differences between donors' promises and their practice. To maintain healthy relations with the FSM, this article argues that China and the United States need to respect and support the FSM as a sovereign nation with many compatible interests, but also occasional divergences in national priorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This survey reviews the growing role and presence of China in the Island Pacific. As the late Professor Ron Crocombe remarked, in the Pacific a major transition is under way from a range of European to Asian influences. Many Western observers have viewed this rise of Asian, and specifically Chinese, influence with alarm, but Crocombe saw it as offering Pacific Islanders new opportunities. This paper first analyses the diversity that can be masked by terms such as ‘China’ and ‘the Pacific’. Then it surveys recent literature on China in the Pacific and scholarship concerned with longer Chinese histories in the region that most recent commentators ignore and which question a number of their assertions. Finally, it suggests possible future directions for historical research on this topic. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]