Chinese President Xi Begins His Pacific Tour

CNN: Xi Jinping starts goodwill tour of the Pacific amid rise in South China Sea tensions

Chinese President Xi Jinping kicked off a packed itinerary in Papua New Guinea Friday at the start of a tour which marks Beijing's latest diplomatic foray into a region once considered outside of China's sphere of influence.

Xi, who will attend the 2018 APEC summit in the PNG capital Port Moresby, will then continue on to Brunei and the Philippines, both important claimants in the hotly contested South China Sea.

Facing an increasingly hostile US government, pushing back on issues of security and trade, the Chinese government has been attempting to build bridges with regional powers.

"There's maybe a sense that China's feeling a bit on the defensive at the moment," Euan Graham, senior fellow at Sydney's Lowy Institute, told CNN.

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Update #1: 'The China show': Xi Jinping arrives in PNG for start of Apec summit (The Guardian)
Update #2: China displays Pacific ambitions in Great Game with Australia and US (Nikkei Asian Review)

WNU Editor: The Chinese are making their presence felt .... China boots media from Pacific Island leaders meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (ABC News Online).