WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to Tonga, New Zealand and Australia next week to discuss regional security and cooperation and attend the FIFA Women's World Cup, the State Department said on Thursday.
Blinken plans to dedicate a new U.S. Embassy in Nukuʻalofa, Tonga, a Pacific island the United States considers strategically important amid efforts by China to expand its influence across the Pacific.
The United States has stepped up engagements with countries in the Pacific region as geostrategic competition with China intensifies.
President Joe Biden hosted a first ever summit in Washington with Pacific island leaders last September and reached an agreement this year with Britain and Australia to supply the latter with nuclear-powered submarines.
Biden has invited Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for a state visit later this year and will also host a second summit with leaders of Pacific island nations in September.
At last year's summit, the U.S. pledged to help Pacific island leaders stave off China's "economic coercion," and to work harder with allies and partners to address islanders' needs.
Blinken will travel to Wellington, New Zealand on July 27 to meet with senior government partners and attend the Women's World Cup when the U.S. women's team plays, the department said.
His trip will conclude on July 28-29 with a stop in Brisbane, Australia, where he will attend the annual meeting of U.S. and Australian defense and foreign ministers, known as AUSMIN.
The Tonga stop will be Blinken's first there as secretary of state and his third to a Pacific island country, a State Department official told a briefing on the trip. It will be his 12th to the Indo-Pacific region as a whole since he became America's top diplomat in January 2021, while he will be the first U.S. secretary of state to visit New Zealand since 2017.
The official said temporary U.S. duty officers were already in Tonga and a first directly assigned officer would be there "in a few short weeks," with the intention being to have an ambassador resident there.
(Reporting by Doina Chiacu, Paul Grant and David Brunnstrom; Editing by Will Dunham and Stephen Coates)
