As Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi is visiting Pacific island countries (PICs) from late May to early June, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has published a review of the cooperation between the two sides.

Since the establishment of diplomatic ties in the 1970s, China and PICs have continued to expand exchanges and cooperation in more than 20 areas, including trade, investment, environmental protection and healthcare.

In the field of trade and investment, located at the southward extension of the Belt and Road Initiative, PICs are important economic and trade partners of China.

China has signed memorandums of understanding on Belt and Road cooperation with all the 10 PICs that have diplomatic ties with China, besides signing Belt and Road cooperation plans with Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu. Progress has been achieved in practical cooperation such as policy, infrastructure, trade, financial and people-to-people connectivity.

Two-way trade has continued to expand. From 1992 to 2021, the total trade volume between China and PICs having diplomatic relations with China grew from $153 million to $5.3 billion, registering an average annual increase of 13 percent and expanding by over 30 times in 30 years.

Steady progress has also been made in investment. China's direct investment in PICs having diplomatic relations with China had reached $2.72 billion by the end of 2021.

Different Chinese provinces have also cooperated with the PICs. For instance, southeast China's Fujian Province launched cooperation with Papua New Guinea in 2018 to help the country with mushroom and upland rice planting, as a joint effort in poverty reduction and alleviation.

So far, south China's Guangdong Province has helped finish 18 infrastructure projects in PICs, including schools, hospitals and art centers. 

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