Commentry: Why the Pacific Cannot Ignore China’s Belt and Road
The 2025 Media Cooperation Forum on the Belt and Road opened today at the Haigeng Convention Center in Kunming, Yunnan. Tonga Independent was honoured to be invited to this year’s event, joining 165 media outlets and representatives from 87 countries. For Tonga, participation comes at a time when China’s Belt and Road Initiative is already visible at home through the construction of the Tonga Sports Complex, which has given local athletes a modern facility and the nation a venue capable of hosting regional competitions.Another major project just completed is the Mala’ekula Royal Tomb project a major boost to Tonga’s tourism
First proposed by Xi Jinping in 2013, the Belt and Road Initiative has brought direct benefits to more than 150 countries. In the Pacific, it has taken shape through infrastructure projects that are reshaping daily life. In Papua New Guinea, China has funded a major power grid in the Highlands to extend electricity to remote provinces and support industry. In the Solomon Islands, Beijing financed and built the National Stadium in Honiara, which hosted the 2023 Pacific Games and now stands as the country’s largest sporting venue. These examples show how the initiative is more than a policy slogan, but a programme already changing the region.
The forum in Kunming also carried a wider message. Xi earlier this month used commemorations of the defeat of fascism to propose a new Global Governance Initiative. At the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Plus meeting, he urged countries to pursue sovereign equality, uphold international law, strengthen multilateralism and expand cooperation in security, trade, technology and cultural exchange. He called for joint efforts to build a fairer, multipolar world order.
Speaking with representatives from Africa and South America, the message was consistent. They see the Belt and Road as a positive opportunity. One African delegate said they were happy to “finally the influeunce of the west is dropping” Patricia from Nigeria told me: “It’s because they came as colonisers and basically took our minerals without giving back to the country.Africa can look after its own business.”
The concept itself draws inspiration from the ancient Silk Road, named after the highly prized Chinese silk that was traded along its routes. Beyond silk, merchants carried spices, ceramics, glassware, precious stones and paper, making it a vital route for cultural and economic exchange. It was not only about commerce. Ideas, religions, technologies and even diseases moved along the Silk Road, shaping civilisations from East to West. The modern Belt and Road Initiative builds on this history, seeking to improve connectivity through railways, ports, highways and digital networks linking Asia with Africa, Europe and the Pacific.
China has the technology and the resources to deliver. The responsibility now lies with the Tongan government to be smart enough, and commercially minded enough, to recognise a good deal when it is on offer and to embrace it for the benefit of the people.
