US risks losing Pacific islands to China’s influence if it does not speed up outreach: Biden adviser

The US should accelerate its outreach in the Pacific islands vis-à-vis China’s gains, a senior American diplomat urged, pointing to national security concerns amid Beijing’s “economic coercion” in the region.

Joseph Yun, a US special presidential envoy for renegotiating agreements with three tiny but strategically important Pacific island states, said Washington had neglected the region but was trying recently to make amends.

“Now we’re playing … a little bit of catch-up, I would say,” said Yun, speaking at an event organised by the Hudson Institute, a think tank, in Washington on Friday. “We need to accelerate our catch-up.”

“We do have a China challenge,” he said. “Strategic competition with China.”