US president set to meet Pacific leaders

The United States has stepped up diplomatic engagement in the Pacific with President Joe Biden set to meet leaders from the island nations in the White House next month, says the US Indo-Pacific coordinator, Kurt Campbell.

Campbell’s comments come amid rising concerns over China’s expanding presence in the region, underlined by a security pact Beijing signed with the Solomon Islands in March.

The US-China fallout has escalated in recent days after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan, which the Chinese claim is a breakaway province.

Beijing responded with test launches of ballistic missiles over the Taiwan Strait.

Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama, who is also chairperson of the Pacific Islands Forum, is in Washington and met Vice-President Kamala Harris.

Harris had assured the leaders’ forum in Suva last month of America’s commitment to the Pacific – opening new embassies for Kiribati, Tonga and the Solomons as well as more than $900,000 in funding.

Bainimarama tweeted that he was looking forward to a ‘‘Pacific Leaders’ summit at the White House soon’’.

It is unclear if New Zealand and

Australia have been invited. Ardern had met Biden in June.

In his address to the US-NZ business summit in May, Campbell said Biden intended to increase diplomatic ties with Pacific countries that had not seen ambassadors or engagement for decades.

‘‘For the United States to be effective in the Pacific we must do more, and we must do more on areas that matter and are of significance to the Pacific Islanders,’’ Campbell said.

He said that along with more engagement with Pacific nations, the Biden Administration aimed to work more intensively on regional co-operation with New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Britain, France and others.

Campbell said New Zealand had been ‘‘more ambivalent in some areas of security’’, but he didn’t believe that would be the case in future.

He said the US would also work with the new International Development Finance Corporation to fund Pacific projects and restore the Peace Corps in the region. The US would also increase support for multilateral engagement through the Pacific Islands Forum.

The White House is yet to release the list of Pacific Islands Forum leaders invited to meet Biden.