The US plans to open embassies in Kiribati and Tonga and to ask Congress for more money to help Pacific island nations tackle illegal fishing, in its latest effort to push back against China in the Indo-Pacific.
Vice-president Kamala Harris will announce the moves when she speaks virtually to the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), Oceania’s most important diplomatic grouping, on Wednesday in Fiji’s capital, Suva.
Washington is trying to bolster its engagement with Pacific island nations after Beijing this year signed a security pact with Solomon Islands that some experts fear could lead to the establishment of a strategically important Chinese military naval base.