World News | The United States opens an embassy in Tonga, a new move towards China

washington [US]On May 12, CNN reported that the United States opened an embassy in the Pacific island nation of Tonga, its latest move to expand its presence in the region to counter China, which has grown in influence in recent years.

“We are pleased to announce that the United States will officially open the U.S. Embassy in Nuku’alofa on May 9, 2023, shortly after Vice President Harris announced at the Pacific Islands Forum meeting that we will begin discussions with Tonga to establish an embassy,” the U.S. the State Department said in a statement.

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“This opening symbolizes the renaissance of our relationship and underscores our strong commitment to our bilateral relationship, the people of Tonga and our partnership in the Indo-Pacific region,” the statement added.

The news came on the same day the White House confirmed that President Joe Biden will travel to Papua New Guinea later this month during his trip to the Indo-Pacific region later this month, the first by a sitting U.S. president, CNN reported. this Pacific country.

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US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller described the opening of the Tongan embassy as “a renaissance of our relationship and underscores our strong commitment to our bilateral relationship, the people of Tonga and our partnership in the Indo-Pacific region”.

Tonga is a country of 171 islands in the South Pacific, about two-thirds the distance from Hawaii to New Zealand, according to the CIA’s World Factbook.

The embassy in the Tongan capital Nuku’alofa is the second that Washington has opened on the Pacific island this year, following the reopening of an embassy in the Solomon Islands in February, CNN reported.

The country is considered a high-income Pacific island nation, but much of its wealth comes from remittances from its diaspora, according to the CIA, noting that “China’s infrastructure investment is growing rapidly”.

According to CNN, the Biden administration is trying to counteract this influence from Beijing by opening embassies in Nuku’alofa and other Pacific island countries. (Arnie)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)