The White House announced on Friday that US President Joe Biden will welcome leaders of Pacific Island countries for a meeting in Washington on September 28 and 29. This is the latest US move to strengthen ties with a region that China is rapidly courting.
According to a statement from the White House, the summit will show how the United States is “broadening and strengthening collaboration on vital issues like climate change, pandemic response, fiscal stimulus, maritime security, protection of the environment, and advancing a free and open Indo-Pacific.”
An official in the administration claimed that the White House had invited 12 Pacific Island nations, including the Solomon Islands, whose security agreement with China in April increased Washington’s worries about Beijing’s expanding influence.
A focal point in the intensifying conflict among China and the United States in the strategically important region is the Solomon Islands, which in 2019 shifted its ties from Taiwan to Beijing.
Additionally invited were the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Tuvalu, the Federal States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Samoa, Tonga, and Fiji, which are among Taiwan’s 14 diplomatic allies.
The US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman had indicated during a trip to the area last month that the summit was a priority, but the White House did not specify which nations had confirmed attendance.
Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare canceled a scheduled appearance with Sherman in the remembrance of World War Two during that tour, and later that month his administration ignored a request for refueling by a US coast guard vessel.
Under Biden, American diplomacy with Pacific Island nations has increased; the country has dispatched a number of senior official delegations and announced intentions to establish embassies in Tonga, Kiribati, and the Solomon Islands.
