US Scrambles to Catch Up With China in the South Pacific

President Xi Jinping’s concerted campaign to raise China’s profile on the global stage has been prodding Washington—and other democratic capitals—to dust off their long-shelved geostrategic playbooks.

In the middle of the Cold War, US President John F. Kennedy led the institutionalization of development assistance, aimed at building support in poorer nations for America in its great contest with the Soviet Union and its satellites. And he launched the Peace Corps as a complement.