Plans to reopen

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is plowing ahead with plans to re-open the U.S. embassy in the Solomon Islands in a bid to counter China’s increasing assertiveness in the Pacific.

The State Department has informed Congress that it will establish soon an interim embassy in the Solomons’ capital of Honiara on the site of a former US consular property. It said the modest embassy will at first be staffed by two American diplomats and five local employees at a cost of $1.8 million per year. A more permanent facility with larger staffing is eventually envisioned, it said.

The department notified lawmakers nearly a year ago that China’s growing influence in the region made reopening the U.S. embassy in the Solomon Islands a priority. Since that notification last February, the Solomons have signed a security pact with China and the US has countered by sending several high-level delegations to the islands.

The US closed its embassy in Honiara in 1993 as part of a post-Cold War global reduction in diplomatic posts and priorities.

But it has since determined that China’s rise as a regional and global power demands American attention as part of its IndoPacific strategy to counter Beijing, particularly in the Solomon Islands, which were a key battleground in the

Pacific theater during WWII and where pro-American sentiment had been high.

“We are seeing this bond weaken as the People’s Republic of China aggressively seeks to engage Solomon Islands’ political and business elites, utilising a familiar pattern of extravagant promises, prospective costly infrastructure loans, and potentially dangerous debt levels,” the department said in a notice to Congress dated Dec. 23 that was obtained by The

Associated Press.

“The United States needs a permanent diplomatic presence in Honiara to effectively provide a counterweight to growing (Chinese) influence and deepen our engagement with the region commensu