An aerial view of ships and boats anchored on the harbour in Honiara, Solomon Islands.
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The US opened an embassy within the Solomon Islands on Thursday in its latest move to counter China’s push into the Pacific.
The embassy within the capital, Honiara, is starting small, with a chargé d’affaires, a few State Department staff and a handful of local employees. The U.S. previously operated an embassy within the Solomon Islands for five years before closing it in 1993 as a part of a worldwide reduction in diplomatic posts after the tip of the Cold War.
But China’s daring moves within the region have the U.S. looking for to extend its engagement in quite a few ways, equivalent to by donating Covid-19 vaccines, bringing back Peace Corps volunteers to several island nations, and investing in forestry and tourism projects.
“The opening of the embassy builds on our efforts not only to position more diplomatic personnel throughout the region, but additionally to interact further with our Pacific neighbors, connect United States programs and resources with needs on the bottom, and construct people-to-people ties,” said Secretary of State Antony Blinken in an announcement.
The opening comes as Fiji’s recent leader, Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, appears to be reassessing some facets of his nation’s engagement with China. Rabuka told The Fiji Times last week he planned to finish a police training and exchange agreement with China.
The U.S. State Department notified lawmakers early last yr that China’s growing influence within the region made reopening the Solomon Islands embassy a priority. Since then, the Solomons has signed a security pact with China, raising fears of a military buildup within the region, and the U.S. has countered by sending several high-level delegations.
The Solomon Islands switched allegiance from the self-ruled island of Taiwan to Beijing in 2019, threatening the close ties with the U.S. that date to World War II.
“We’re seeing this bond weaken because the People’s Republic of China aggressively seeks to interact Solomon Islands’ political and business elites, utilizing a well-known pattern of extravagant guarantees, prospective costly infrastructure loans, and potentially dangerous debt levels,” the department said in a December notice to Congress that was obtained by The Associated Press.
A senior State Department official who insisted on anonymity to transient the media said the U.S. had been encouraged by the Solomon Islands’ commitment to proceed working with traditional security partners equivalent to Australia and the U.S., but remained concerned in regards to the secrecy surrounding the safety agreement with China.
He said any sort of militarization within the Pacific by China can be an excellent concern.
The official said the U.S. had yet to have deep conversations with the brand new Fijian leadership so it was too early to inform if the move on policing signaled a change in direction for Fiji on China.
The Fijian government didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.
