China is seeking to exert its influence in the Pacific region by using political pressure and funding to capture local elites, including in the media, experts say. In countries such as Palau that recognize Taiwan, those methods can be elaborate.
I can tell you from first-hand experience that (a) this is real, and (b) it is no different strategically than what the United States has done for years with some of its own foreign aid programs.
In fairness, there has been something of an evolution over the last 30 years in the way institutions like USAID approach development assistance. There is now at least some semblance of self-reflection over the need for co-creation with local stakeholders, an emerging focus on inclusivity, and attention to actual aid effectiveness (as opposed to the naked bribery described in this article). And of course, many elements in the GOP now want to cut back or kill those programs, but that is another discussion entirely.
And before someone calls me out, yet another discussion would be the U.S. track record of starting wars with suspicious links to oil reserves. At that point the mask is off and foreign aid only appears as an afterthought, if it does at all (bricks of cash flown to Iraq being a prime example).
America dropped a lot of our soft power while we were busy trying to invade everyone in the early 2000s; China picked it up and did something with it. As an American, I can’t be mad that they were smarter than us. As a human, I’m disgusted that resource gaps between and within countries are so big that those approaches work.
