The United States Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell will represent the U.S. at the Pacific Islands Forum summit in Tonga next week, and he will also visit Vanuatu and New Zealand. Washington is seeking to strengthen partnerships in the region to counter the expanding influence of China.
According to Reuters, the U.S. State Department stated that Kurt Campbell, a key architect of the U.S. Indo-Pacific policy, will attend the 53rd Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting in Nuku’alofa, the capital of Tonga, on August 28. During the meeting, he will discuss the U.S.’s Pacific Partnership Strategy initiated in 2022 with leaders of Pacific island nations.
Following the summit, he will visit Vanuatu to attend the opening ceremony of the U.S. Embassy in Port Vila last month. The statement mentioned that he will also highlight the projects carried out by the U.S. Peace Corps at a hospital and the repatriation work of Vanuatu artifacts.
Campbell will conclude his regional trip with a visit to New Zealand. On August 30, he will co-chair the U.S.-New Zealand Strategic Dialogue in Auckland and kick off the first high-level technology dialogue.
Campbell is considered a key strategist behind former U.S. President Obama’s “pivot to Asia” strategy, aimed at rebalancing American diplomatic and military resources in the region.
He often emphasizes the need to strengthen ties with the Pacific region and warns that failing to do so could allow Washington’s main strategic competitor, China, to exploit the situation.
President Biden has held two summits with Pacific island leaders, but last year he cancelled a meeting with them due to debt ceiling negotiations in Washington, leaving the Pacific leaders disappointed.
China has been actively expanding its influence in the Pacific recently. In February of this year, Chinese police were working near a remote atoll nation, Kiribati, close to Hawaii, prompting the U.S. to warn Pacific island nations against accepting “aid” from Chinese security forces.
Since 2022, Chinese police have been deployed in the Solomon Islands, with the U.S. and Australia criticizing the Solomon Islands’ secret security agreement with China for undermining regional stability. The Solomon Islands, strategically located just 1600 km northeast of Australia, hold significant strategic importance.
In December of last year, a Chinese company began illegal logging in Vanuatu, with workers wearing military uniforms raising concerns among the local population.