This analysis reviews the evidence surrounding China’s debt practices in the Pacific and the extent to which they have contributed to rising debt sustainability risks in the region.

This paper argues that with more objectives added since its inception in 2013, China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has evolved into a much more expansive grand strategy that includes a package of themes and goals.

While much of the spotlight is on the impact of the BRI overseas, this paper takes a unique approach by discussing the start of an ambitious Pacific Island country (PIC) language-teaching program in China, and offering a brief case study of Samoan language teaching.

This report’s findings and recommendations were presented in Beijing directly, but privately, to a diverse group of Chinese policymakers, finance and development officials, scholars, and business leaders in March 2019, during preparations for the Second Belt and Road Forum (April 26–29).

China proposed the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2013, to improve connectivity and cooperation on a transcontinental scale. Quantifying impacts for a project as vast as the BRI is a major challenge. This report aims to help participating countries choose the kinds of investments and reforms that will best meet their development needs.