Vice President Kamala Harris announces new initiatives in the region in an unprecedented speech at the regional summit.
The United States has unleashed a major push on the Pacific region, trying to counter China’s growing influence, with Vice President Kamala Harris announcing $ 600 million in funding at a key regional summit.
In a video address at the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) in Fiji on Wednesday, Harris also said the United States will open two new embassies, in Tonga and Kiribati, and appoint its first envoy to the Pacific. It has already announced plans to reopen its embassy in the Solomon Islands.
The U.S. vice president thanked Fiji for inviting her to speak at the summit and said the U.S. was ready to “embark on a new chapter” in the Pacific.
Harris said she and U.S. President Joe Biden acknowledged that the region may not have received enough attention in the past.
“We’re going to change that,” he promised, adding that the U.S. wanted to “significantly deepen our presence in the Pacific region.”
The aid, $ 60 million a year over a decade, is three times the current assistance and will go to measures to improve maritime safety, tackle climate change and combat illegal fishing. The US will relaunch its Peace Corps program in the Pacific.
“It really shows that the United States has returned and wants to play an active role,” Palace President Surangel Whipps Jr. told Reuters news agency after Harris ’speech.
“Sometimes because of our distance we forget, so that was important.”
Palau has a defense relationship with the United States, diplomatic relations with Taiwan, and an economic relationship with China.
Prior to the speech, a U.S. administration official had told reporters that the U.S. would “intensify our game in the Pacific islands.”
U.S. moves come as China increases economic and political ties with Pacific island nations, signing a security pact with the Solomon Islands in April that raised concerns not only in the U.S. but also in Australia and New Zealand.
The PIF meeting, which brings together leaders from across the region, was the first since the agreement was signed.
Harris ’speech was a diplomatic coup for the U.S., with China not yet invited to make a similar appearance at the summit.
At least one official from the local Chinese embassy was in Harris’s address room, which caused a small stir among the organizers.
Tonga said it was pleased to learn that the United States will open an embassy in the country for the first time.
“It’s a big milestone,” Tongan Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni told AFP news agency. “We are very pleased to finally have an American presence in Tonga.”