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This article, like the special issue it introduces, presents an attempt to think systematically about the durable and complex relationship between Pacific Island and East and Southeast Asian histories. Settled by people whose languages originally took shape in East and Southeast Asia, the Oceanic Pacific has deep links with Asia. Given that the changes that have unfolded in the Pacific World since the 16th century arise from linkages between the Americas, Asia and Europe which emerged through the creation of a global economic system, it is logical to treat Asia as one of the core contexts for Pacific history. The intensified connections between Pacific Island societies in the 18th and 19th centuries were strongly influenced by Asian economic, political and cultural systems. The decades between the mid-19th and mid-20th centuries were a period of complex engagement of Pacific Island worlds with Chinese, Japanese, European, British, American and Southeast Asian influences. World War II, a conflict between the United States and Japan for domination of the Pacific, was a product of these earlier structures and a break with them. Today, Pacific peoples engage with powerful political, economic and cultural influences emanating from East Asia, most notably the People's Republic of China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Filipinos are the second largest Asian migrant group in the contemporary Pacific behind Indians and ahead of Chinese. While Filipinos are prominent in local histories of Guam and Hawai'i, where their populations are concentrated, little is written or known about their presence elsewhere. Pacific connections are similarly neglected by Filipino scholars. This may largely be due to the unobtrusive nature of most Filipino integration into Pacific Island communities. Nor were Filipino Austronesians as isolated from their Micronesian neighbours as is commonly assumed. During the Spanish era, Filipinos travelled all over the Pacific as ships' crew, pearl divers and Catholic missionaries. The United States' takeover of the Spanish Pacific in the 1890s ushered in a century of American domination and provided employment and migration opportunities for Filipino workers across the American Pacific. Today Filipino professionals are increasingly common in nations of the Western Pacific and this trend seems set to continue. [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]

Pacific open ocean fisheries are classic examples of the tragedy of the commons where a lack of defined ownership results in competitive overexploitation by multiple parties. Such circumstances exist over most Pacific seas beyond site of land due to scarce monitoring resources. Voluntary conservation regimes are not working, as fisheries decline substantially. The Pacific has diverse management regimes and approaches, gaps between recommended principles of management and certain practices, and a need for more comprehensive data on assumptions underlying management regimes, especially marine protected areas. Compliance regimes can be enhanced through greater consultation and incorporation of stakeholders in policy-making and enforcement, devoting more resources to monitoring and enforcement, and integrating sustainable management regimes with national economic development needs. The focus of ocean policy primarily on fisheries issues needs to be broadened to include consideration of the compatible use of seabed minerals and biota with medicinal benefit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author presents a response to the panel review of his book "The People of the Sea: Environment, Identity, and History in Oceania." He is grateful for reviewer James Greenlee's assertion that he has effectively integrated ethnography, anthropology, linguistics, archaeology, history, biology, and oceanography, and has struck a balance between cultural and environmental explanations.