U.S. Opens Embassy in Solomon Islands to Counter China
TimeNov 25, 2022
The Facts
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced on Wednesday that the US has opened an embassy in Honiara, the capital of Solomon Islands, after a 30-year absence in which the US was represented there by an ambassador based in Papua New Guinea.
Diplomat Russell Corneau, who has been in the Solomon Islands since October 2021, has been appointed to continue as the US diplomatic representative to the Pacific Island nation.
The Spin
Anti-China narrative
The decision is a move to counter China's increasingly aggressive stance in the region, with Beijing expanding its military presence in the Indo-Pacific. The move is viewed as a necessary response to China's security pact with the Solomon Islands last year, and US diplomatic relations in the "Blue Continent" must improve.
Pro-China narrative
The US's diplomatic campaign in the South Pacific is an attempt to restore its geostrategic hegemony, regardless of the devastation Western enslavement has had historically in the region. Whilst China opposes the condescending approaches of the Western powers, basing their relationships on mutual respect and benefits, Biden and the US will continue to attempt to undermine such processes for their own self-interests.
