WASHINGTON – The United States has opened a new embassy in Tonga, the State Department said on Tuesday, as part of efforts to step up the US diplomatic presence in the Pacific region to counter China.

The US “officially opened the US Embassy in Nuku’alofa on May 9, 2023”, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.

“This opening symbolises the renewal of our relationship and underlines the strength of our commitment to our bilateral relations, to the people of Tonga, and to our partnerships in the Indo-Pacific region,” the statement said.

Mr Miller added that the embassy would allow Washington to deploy additional diplomatic staff and resources, including the potential appointment of a resident ambassador to Tonga, with which the US has had diplomatic relations since 1972.

Washington reopened its embassy in the Solomon Islands in 2023 after a 30-year absence, the top US diplomat for East Asia, Mr Daniel Kritenbrink, noted on May 3.

He said Washington is continuing to engage with Vanuatu and Kiribati about opening proposed new embassies in those countries.

Despite the diplomatic push, the Solomon Islands announced in March it had awarded a multi-million-dollar contract to a Chinese state company to upgrade an international port in Honiara.

The US and regional allies Australia and New Zealand have had concerns that China has ambitions to build a naval base in the region since the Solomon Islands struck a security pact with Beijing in 2022.

Washington has also been working to renew agreements with the Marshall Islands, Palau and the Federated States of Micronesia under which it retains responsibility for the islands’ defence and gains exclusive access to huge swathes of the Pacific.

The embassy announcement came after the White House said on Tuesday that President Joe Biden will become the first US sitting president to visit Papua New Guinea in May following the Group of Seven summit in Japan, underscoring his administration’s investment in the Pacific region to counter China. REUTERS