Antony Blinken, the United States secretary of state, has pledged to step up support for Pacific nations and reiterated a warning about the perils of “predatory” Chinese investment as he dedicated a new embassy in the island nation of Tonga.
Blinken’s visit to Nuku’alofa on Wednesday makes him the first US Secretary of State to pay an official visit to Tonga and comes as Washington ramps up efforts to counter China’s growing influence in the region.
Mr. Blinken had a barbed warning about aid from Beijing, saying it often comes with strings attached.
He claimed China had been behind “some predatory economic activities and also investments that are done in a way that can actually undermine good governance and promote corruption”.
Tonga, a Polynesian archipelago of about 100,000 people, is the latest in a string of Pacific island states being targeted in a renewed US diplomatic push.
