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US to open more embassies in Pacific, ramp up funding as tensions with China rise
- Addressing the Pacific Islands Forum in Fiji, Vice-President Kamala Harris said the US will open new embassies in Tonga and Kiribati and appoint a designated envoy to the region
- Harris also unveiled plans to bring back Peace Corps volunteers to several countries
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The United States has revealed a new strategy to prioritise Pacific nations in its foreign policy, seeking to temper concerns over climate change and development in a bid to counter China’s growing influence in the vast oceanic region.
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US Vice-President Kamala Harris announced the new commitment, including plans to open more embassies, in a speech delivered virtually to the Pacific Island Forum leaders meeting in Fiji on Wednesday. Regional leaders and diplomats have been meeting in Suva since Monday.
“We recognise that in recent years, the Pacific Islands may not have received the diplomatic attention and support that you deserve. So today I am here to tell you directly, we are going to change that,” Harris said in her speech.
Harris announced the US would appoint a designated Pacific Islands Forum envoy to further increase its diplomatic footprint across the region, as well as new embassies in Kiribati and Tonga. That’s in addition to the US embassy in the Solomon Islands, which is already in the process of reopening.
Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni said Tonga was “really happy that the US will be opening an embassy in his country, it will be the first time”.
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