As China has grown in wealth and power over the past two decades it has been playing a bigger role in the Pacific, giving countries new options for aid, trade and investment.
But there is also uneasiness in some places about the speed of change, and what it means for people of the region.
Samoa was the second Pacific nation to establish relations with the People's Republic, doing so just one day after Fiji.
Now Samoa's deputy prime minister Fonotoe Lauofo says his country is China's best friend in the region.
