US Deputy Secretary of State to Meet With Pacific Island Leaders Amid Increasing Chinese Military Pressure

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell will travel to the Pacific island of Tonga next week to lead the U.S. delegation to the 53rd Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) leaders meeting and promote U.S.–Pacific partnership goals.
After his Aug. 28 visit to Tonga, Campbell will visit Vanuatu to dedicate the United States’ newest overseas mission, Embassy Port Vila. On Aug. 30, he will visit Auckland, New Zealand, to co-chair the United States–New Zealand Strategic Dialogue and hold talks on technology.
The tiny nation owes China a sizable debt. The CCP loaned Tonga about $160 million in 2008 and 2010; the government used the loan money to rebuild after 2006 pro-democracy riots in the central business district. Tonga must repay this debt by 2028, and the CCP has declined to renegotiate a debt repayment plan, representing a huge burden for a nation with a gross domestic product of roughly $470 million.
Vanuatu’s new multimillion-dollar presidential palace is the result of Chinese funding as well. Days after Vanuatu Prime Minister Charlot Salwai attended the opening of the palace this summer, he went to China to visit leader Xi Jinping. After the talks, the nations issued a joint statement in which the CCP welcomed Vanuatu into its Belt and Road Initiative.
Just 10 days later, the United States opened the embassy in Vanuatu that Campbell will dedicate next week.
Campbell has been a key architect of U.S. policy in the Indo-Pacific, having served in multiple administrations. Prior to his confirmation as deputy secretary this year, he was deputy assistant to the president and coordinator for Indo-Pacific affairs on the National Security Council.
In the Obama administration, he served as assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs. In the Clinton administration, he held multiple positions, including deputy assistant secretary of defense for Asian and Pacific affairs.
Campbell is viewed as an intellectual author of then-President Barack Obama’s “pivot to Asia” strategy, aimed at the rebalancing of U.S. diplomatic and military resources to the region.
He has frequently stressed the need to step up engagement with the Pacific region, warning that China, Washington’s main strategic competitor, is waiting in the wings to take advantage if it does not do so.
Outside of government service, Campbell co-founded and was the CEO of the Center for a New American Security think tank and has authored or edited 10 books on foreign policy, among other subjects.