A leading Chinese aquaculture company has signed an agreement to build an integrated fish-farming facility in Vanuatu, continuing a long line of recent diplomatic efforts China has made with Pacific Island nations to expand its influence in the region.
Under the terms of the deal, Chengmai, Hainan-based Hainan Xiangtai Fishery Company will invest CNY 500 million (USD 70 million, EUR 65 million) in partnership with local firm Mata’ariki Investment Holdings to build and facilitate fishery seedling, feed, breeding, processing, and export trade operations in Vanuatu. The two sides signed the deal at the 2023 Asia-Pacific Marine Fisheries Industry Development Forum, an event organized by the Hainan provincial government.
Established in 2004, Hainan Xiangtai is a full-chain aquaculture producer of tilapia, golden pompano, shrimp, and pangasius, which has set its goal on doubling its sales. After long being known solely as a tilapia exporter, Hainan Xiangtai secured Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) certification last year for a golden pomfret marine cage farm it operates, and has pledged to diversify its product offerings, the company's general manager, Lin Xiao Wen, told SeafoodSource in April 2023.
Continuing to expand outside of tilapia exports, Hainan Xiangtai, along with Mata’ariki, will “carry out more cooperation to promote trade, investment, and fishery industry development between the two parties,” the agreement states.
The deal is part of a larger effort made in coordination with the Chinese government, including the actions of provincial governments such as Hainan’s, to widen the country's sphere of influence in the Pacific region in alignment with government frameworks like the Belt and Road Initiative, which seeks to expand China’s international trade through infrastructure investments. In July 2022, Hainan hosted delegations from several Pacific island nations, including Vanuatu, for a two-day conference during which the two nations signed agreements related to international fishery tourism and training for those in the leisure fishing industry.
Hainan Xiangtai is not the first Chinese company to establish ties with Vanuatu, as Zhuhai Donggang Xing Fishery Company sent 10 vessels to fish the nation’s waters in 2018 and has promised to build a processing and logistics base there. Part of the Chinese national fleet is also flagged to Vanuatu, which operates a large flagging service for foreign vessels.
China's diplomatic efforts in the region have stretched to overtures to the Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, and Papua New Guinea, guilded with promises of Chinese technology, training, infrastructure, and security. A recent Axios report on Chinese investment in Micronesia – a region that includes Guam, Palau, and the Marshall Islands – outlined various infrastructure projects, public buildings, and a farm built on the tiny Micronesian state of Pohnpei with Chinese government aid.
China has claimed that its cultural affinity with Pacific Islanders is one of many reasons why it has pursued partnerships in the region. In Fuzhou last year, Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Xie Feng stated that the southeast Chinese province of Fujian was the birthplace of the Austronesian language family, stating that China shared “complimentary development advantages” with the Pacific Island states as part of the announced opening of the China-Pacific Island Countries Poverty Alleviation and Development Cooperation Center.
But China's interest in the region is much broader than cultural ties - it occupies a strategic location between the U.S., China, and Australia, and is home to huge, lucrative tuna stocks. That has led to jousting with the Quad, a U.S.-led alliance that has pledged to help Pacific nations protect their seas from illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
Photo courtesy of Sun Information Network
