The Pacific island state of Niue is one of the smallest in the world. With an area of just over 100 square miles and a population of about 1,700, the country has no military, is not a member of the United Nations and was recognized by the United States as a sovereign state just last year.
But President Biden spoke about Niue at the White House on Monday as he hosted the leaders of 18 Pacific island nations, the second such meeting in a year and the latest example of regional competition for influence between the United States and China.
Among Mr. Biden’s announcements at the event was that the United States would establish formal diplomatic relations for the first time with Niue and the Cook Islands, a nearby snorkeling paradise.
In a speech to leaders at the White House on Monday, Mr. Biden invoked America’s World War II campaign against Japan in the region and, without naming China, suggested that a different kind of battle is now underway be.
“Like our forefathers during World War II, we know that much of the world’s history will be written in the Pacific in the coming years,” Mr. Biden said. “And like them, we owe it to the next generation to write this history together.” Officials said Mr. Biden spent more than two and a half hours with the group.
Biden’s second summit of the U.S. Pacific Islands Forum, as the White House is calling the event, is part of a larger effort by the Biden administration to deepen ties with a number of islands in the South Pacific where officials say Beijing is using military force want.
The event, a repeat of last September’s, was largely intended to strengthen ties and shine a spotlight after officials acknowledged years of bipartisan neglect. But Mr. Biden also announced that he was working with Congress to invest $40 million in the islands’ infrastructure, among other initiatives.
These announcements hardly represent a seismic diplomatic event. But they are two of many recent steps the Biden administration has taken to bolster America’s presence in a region east and northeast of Australia.
Last year, the United States opened embassies in the Solomon Islands and Tonga and plans to open one in Vanuatu early next year. When Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken landed in Fiji in February 2022, it was the first visit by an American secretary of state there in 36 years.
Mr Biden had hoped to become the first sitting American president to visit a Pacific island nation but had to cancel a trip to Papua New Guinea in May due to the national debt ceiling crisis.
These moves are, in no small part, moves in response to growing Chinese influence in the region, which was particularly evident last year when the Solomon Islands surprised the US government by signing what analysts said was a wide-ranging security pact with Beijing Ultimately, a possible development could enable permanent Chinese military presence.
Biden administration officials say their goal is not specifically to compete with China or make countries choose between Washington and Beijing, but to help ensure a “free and open” Pacific that is peaceful and hospitable to is merchant shipping. But they acknowledge that China’s assertiveness has forced them to pay increased attention to the region.
And China’s state-controlled media has derided U.S. efforts to gain influence as part of an apparent power struggle. An editorial in Beijing’s China Daily said on Monday that the Pacific island nations were “largely forgotten by the West until the United States and its allies began to view China as a rival.”
“Suddenly the region has become an area of interest on their geopolitical chessboard,” the paper said.
Monday’s event at the White House was part of an elaborate multi-day program that included a trip to a Baltimore Ravens professional football game on Sunday and to a U.S. Coast Guard cutter in Baltimore Harbor, where the Coast Guard commander gave a briefing on received maritime questions. These problems include the growing problem of illegal fishing off the country’s coasts, for which China is primarily responsible.
Mr. Blinken was also scheduled to host the leaders at a State Department dinner on Monday evening. They were scheduled to attend an economic roundtable with Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen on Tuesday and meet with Mr. Biden’s special climate envoy, John Kerry.
Biden officials say climate is the most important issue for leaders whose countries are at risk of being inundated by rising sea levels. But they also want other forms of U.S. help, including a stronger Peace Corps presence and undersea cables to improve internet access on the islands.
To the Biden administration’s disappointment, one key leader was notably missing from this week’s gathering: Manasseh Sogavare, the prime minister of the Solomon Islands, whose close ties with Beijing have raised concerns in Washington.
Despite being in New York last week for the United Nations General Assembly, Mr. Sogavare did not come to Washington this week.