Biden hosts first Pacific Island country summit
Biden will host leaders attending the first Pacific Island summit as part of the administration's effort to boost U.S. engagement in the region.
President Joe Biden on Thursday will host leaders attending the first Pacific Island summit this week as part of the administration's effort to increase U.S. engagement and investments in the region.
Biden will also host a dinner with the leaders, many of whom are making their first visits to the White House, a senior administration official said.
The White House released a U.S.-Pacific Island strategy Thursday, which complements an earlier release of the administration's broader Indo-Pacific strategy and outlines the president’s desire for a “unified government effort on Pacific issues,” the official told reporters in a call previewing the summit. The summit and strategy comes as the U.S. seeks to counter China's growing military and economic influence in the region.
VP Harris confirms U.S. support for Taiwan during Japan visitSept. 28, 202200:52“The purpose of this document is to make it obviously consistent with the goals and objectives of our larger framing, but this is specifically aimed at the concerns and the objectives in the Pacific as a whole,” the official said.
“We recognized that we had powerful, strategic, historical, moral, humanitarian, environmental interests across the Pacific, many good friends and supporters and allies who had been with us for decades at the United Nations and a variety of forum," the official said. "And these are all countries that they wanted the United States to be more actively engaged."
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