US National Security Council Indo-Pacific Coordinator Kurt Campbell on Thursday said that he expects more high-level US officials to visit Pacific island countries as Washington steps up its engagement to counter China in the region.
Campbell said the US needed more diplomatic facilities across the region, and more contact with Pacific island countries that at times “receive lesser attention.”
“You will see more Cabinet-level, more senior officials, going to the Pacific ... recognizing that nothing replaces, really, diplomatic boots on the ground,” he told the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
Photo: AFP
The administration of US President Joe Biden has vowed to commit more resources to the Indo-Pacific region as China seeks to boost economic, military and police links with Pacific island nations hungry for foreign investment.
Beijing’s growing influence was highlighted by its security pact with the Solomon Islands this year, a move that fanned concerns in Australia, New Zealand and the US.
“Sovereignty is central in terms of how we see the Pacific overall. Any initiative that compromises or calls into question that sovereignty, I think we would have concerns with,” Campbell said, without referring to China.
Washington has said it would expedite the opening of an embassy in the Solomon Islands, announced earlier this year when US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Fiji, the first trip there by the US’ top diplomat in four decades.
Campbell said he envisioned Fiji would be one of the US’ “hubs” of engagement.
“Our mantra will be nothing in the Pacific without the Pacific... We do not take these bonds for granted,” he said, acknowledging perceptions that Washington had not always sufficiently taken the needs of islanders into account.
Fijian Ambassador to the UN Satyendra Prasad told the CSIS event that the islands needed “great predictability” and no “stop-start” in ties with Washington.
“Pacific people and their governments would welcome an enduring partnership with US that is there for the long term,” he said.
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