Biden to host White House Pacific island summit

US President Joe Biden will host Pacific island leaders at the White House in September, a senior American diplomat said Saturday, deepening a regional charm offensive to counter growing Chinese influence.

Visiting Tonga, Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said the leaders would be invited to Washington for a meeting and dinner late in the month.

"This meeting will be a historic opportunity with the United States and Pacific islands countries to hear and listen, the Pacific way," Sherman said.

The move comes amid a flurry of US shuttle diplomacy looking to bolster alliances in the Pacific against a more assertive Beijing.

Washington has announced it will open a series of new diplomatic missions in the region, and has been more vocal and visible in recent months.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken has visited and Vice President Kamala Harris recently made a landmark address to the Pacific Islands Forum.

On Saturday, Sherman will attend a series of events in the neighbouring Solomon Islands, which is marking the 80th anniversary of World War II's Battle of Guadalcanal.

The Solomon Islands are at the centre of a renewed South Pacific rivalry between Beijing and Washington.

China signed an undisclosed security pact with the island nation in April, alarming Western allies.

The deal, which critics fear could lead to China gaining a military foothold in the South Pacific, is likely high on the agenda for the US visit.

A series of decisions by Solomons Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare that appear to echo China's authoritarian style of governance may also be up for discussion.

Sogavare has moved to censor the public broadcaster, threatened other media and repeatedly floated delaying planned elections.

During the Tonga visit, Sherman highlighted the potential local impact of China's recent decision to suspend climate talks with the United States, sparked by the visit of top Congressional Democrat Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan.

"For Tonga climate change is existential, and we understand that. And it's just terribly disappointing that the world's largest emitter right now, and a country who must be engaged for us to reach 1.5 degrees Celsius, has now withdrawn from that discussion," Sherman said.

Under the terms of the Paris climate deal of 2015, nations are seeking to limit global temperature increases to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Rising sea levels are the top issue across a region where many countries sit only a few feet above sea level and are already feeling the impact of climate change.

US warns Pacific islands of struggle against coercive regimes
Honiara (AFP) Aug 7, 2022 - A top US diplomat warned Pacific Islands of a new struggle against violent power-hungry regimes Sunday, as she visited the Solomon Islands to mark the 80th anniversary of World War II's Battle of Guadalcanal.

With China's military conducting drills around Taiwan and Russia bombarding Ukraine, Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman hit out at a new crop of world leaders reviving "bankrupt" ideas about the use of force -- without mentioning any countries.

Attending a dawn memorial service in the Solomon Islands, Sherman said "some around the world" had forgotten the cost of war, or were ignoring the lessons of the past.

She hit out at "leaders who believe that coercion, pressure, and violence are tools to be used with impunity", but did not specify any names during her speech at the service.

The battle of Guadalcanal was a turning point in World War II.

The brutal seven-month land, sea and air fight between Allied and Japanese forces killed tens of thousands of troops -- most Japanese.

Painting the situation today as carrying faint echoes of the fight against Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan in the 1930-40s, the State Department number two urged the region to push back.

"We remember how bankrupt, how empty, such views were then, and remain today," she said.

"Today we are once again engaged in a different kind of struggle -- a struggle that will go on for some time to come."

Sherman's trip comes as the United States tries to rebuild diplomatic relations in the Pacific, where China is growing stronger and democratic alliances have faltered.

- Sogavare no-show -

Nowhere is the United States's waning regional influence more evident than in the Solomon Islands.

The government of Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare recently signed a secretive security pact with Beijing, moved to curb press freedoms, and suggested delaying elections.

Sherman, again without mentioning names, told her hosts: "It is up to us to decide if we want to continue having societies where people are free to speak their minds."

It is time, she said, to decide "if we want to have governments that are transparent and accountable to their people".

Sogavare was slated to attend the ceremony, appearing on the event programme, but was a no-show.

He did, however, meet Sherman later, for what she described as "wide-ranging" talks.

As well as warnings, Sherman said Washington wants to increase cooperation with the "absolutely critical" Pacific island nations, including by opening embassies in Tonga, Kiribati, and the Solomon Islands.

As part of the charm offensive, US President Joe Biden is also expected to invite Pacific Island leaders to the White House for a September summit.

Solomon Islands police and security minister Anthony Veke welcomed what he termed US "re-engagement" with the country and the region.

But he called on Washington to launch a "scaled-up effort" to remove unexploded WWII ordnance that continues to injure and kill Solomon Islanders to this day.

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High-level US delegation heads to Solomons to mark WWII amid China moves
Washington (AFP) July 25, 2022
A high-level US delegation will travel to the Solomon Islands to mark the 80th anniversary of the World War II Battle of Guadalcanal, months after the country signed a controversial security pact with China, the State Department announced Monday. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman and other senior diplomats and military leaders will visit the islands' capital Honiara from August 6-8 and attend memorial events organized with Japan, now a close US ally. The visitors will include Caroline Kenn ... read more