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US-China ties loom large as Blinken readies a rapid Asia-Pacific return with tour of Tonga, New Zealand, Australia
- For the third time in two months, the US secretary of state returns to the region to open a new Tonga embassy – and push New Zealand to ‘fall in line’
- Talks will ‘almost inevitably centre on China’s role’, analysts say, even as Pacific nations await more ‘concrete initiatives’ from Washington
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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is heading to the Asia-Pacific again this week for the third time in two months, as Washington seeks to further pressure New Zealand into toeing its China line and prove to Pacific island nations that it’s a “willing partner”.
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Tonga will be Blinken’s first stop on Wednesday to open a new US embassy in capital Nuku’alofa, followed by New Zealand on Thursday for bilateral meetings and a United States-Netherlands Fifa Women’s World Cup football match, before he finishes his tour in Australia to attend an annual consultative forum alongside US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin.
“The US wants to show to these states that it is a willing partner [and] happy to provide them with assistance or capital,” said Ian Hall, an international-relations professor and acting director at Griffith University’s Griffith Asia Institute in Australia.
High-level visits by US officials to Tonga, in particular, are “few and far between”, Hall said – with Austin’s parallel visit to Papua New Guinea this week marking the first time a serving US defence secretary has ever been to the country.
“The test is whether the US is able to provide what Pacific island countries want in terms of new infrastructure or investment,” he said.
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