Despite being mired in political chaos at home, the Biden administration still desperately wants to maintain its hegemony and assertiveness abroad through its latest move of looking to reopen the US embassy in the Solomon Islands, which experts believed aims to contain China's influence in the Pacific.
The US State Department has informed Congress that it will soon establish an interim embassy in the Solomon islands' capital of Honiara on the site of a former US consular property. It said the modest embassy will initially be staffed by two American diplomats and five local employees at a cost of $1.8 million per year. A more permanent facility with larger staffing is eventually envisioned, it said, the AP reported.
The report noted that the US closed its embassy in Honiara in 1993 "as part of a post-Cold War global reduction in diplomatic posts and priorities."
After the Cold War, Washington viewed the South Pacific region as being less important, so it reduced its aid and presence in the region, which included closing the US Embassy in Solomon Islands in 1993, Chen Hong, president of the Chinese Association of Australian Studies and director of the Australian Studies Centre at East China Normal University, told the Global Times on Thursday.
However, since the Solomons signed a security pact with China in April 2022 and the two sides have maintained mutually beneficial cooperation, the US has hardly sat still, sending several high-level delegations to the islands that year.
