WASHINGTON – United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to Tonga, New Zealand and Australia next week to discuss regional security and cooperation and attend the Fifa Women’s World Cup, the State Department said on Thursday.
Mr Blinken plans to dedicate a new US Embassy in Nuku’alofa, Tonga, a Pacific island the US considers strategically important amid efforts by China to expand its influence across the Pacific.
The US has stepped up engagements with countries in the Pacific region as geostrategic competition with China intensifies.
President Joe Biden hosted a first summit in Washington with Pacific island leaders in September 2022, and reached an agreement in 2023 with Britain and Australia to supply the latter with nuclear-powered submarines.
Mr Biden has invited Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for a state visit later in 2023, and will also host a second summit with leaders of Pacific island nations in September.
At 2022’s summit, the US pledged to help Pacific island leaders stave off China’s “economic coercion”, and to work harder with allies and partners to address islanders’ needs.
Mr Blinken will travel to Wellington, New Zealand, on July 27 to meet senior government partners and attend the Women’s World Cup when the US women’s team plays, the department said.
His trip will conclude on July 28-29 with a stop in Brisbane, Australia, where he will attend the annual meeting of US and Australian defence and foreign ministers, known as Ausmin.
The Tonga stop will be Mr Blinken’s first there as secretary of state and his third to a Pacific island country, a State Department official told a briefing on the trip.
It will be his 12th to the Indo-Pacific region as a whole since he became America’s top diplomat in January 2021, while he will be the first US secretary of state to visit New Zealand since 2017.
The official said temporary US duty officers were already in Tonga and a first directly assigned officer would be there “in a few short weeks”, with the intention being to have an ambassador resident there. REUTERS
