The State Department said on Tuesday that the United States has opened a new embassy in Tonga as part of efforts to increase its diplomatic representation in the Pacific area to counter Chinese influence.

The United States "officially opened the U.S. Embassy in Nuku'alofa on May 9, 2023," State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement.

"This opening symbolizes the renewal of our relationship and underlines the strength of our bilateral relations, with the people of Tonga, and to our partnerships in the Indo-Pacific region," it said.

According to Miller, the embassy would enable Washington to send more diplomats and resources, including perhaps appointing a resident ambassador to Tonga, with which the US maintains diplomatic ties since 1972.

The State Department tipped the "potential appointment" of a resident US ambassador to Tonga.

The United States also has plans to open embassies in Vanuatu and Kiribati. In February this year, Washington reopened its embassy in the Solomon Islands after a 30-year absence.

Despite the diplomatic pressure, the Solomon Islands declared in March that it had awarded a multi-million-dollar contract to a Chinese state company to upgrade an international port in Honiara.

The United States and regional allies Australia and New Zealand have had concerns that China has ambitions to build a naval base in the region since the Solomon Islands struck a security pact with Beijing last year.

Additionally, Washington has been attempting to extend accords with the Marshall Islands, Palau, and the Federated States of Micronesia, under which it retains control over the defense of the islands and is granted exclusive access to vast swathes of the Pacific.

The embassy's declaration followed the White House's announcement on Tuesday that President Joe Biden will make history as the first sitting president of the United States to travel to Papua New Guinea this month after the G7 conference in Japan, highlighting his administration's commitment to the Pacific area in order to counter China.

Image source: Reuters