U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is unveiling Washington plans to open an embassy in the Solomon Islands, a senior state department official revealed on Saturday.
The official noted that Blinken will make the announcement on Saturday during his visit to Fiji, where he will hold a virtual meeting with 18 Pacific nation leaders.
The Solomon Islands switched its diplomatic allegiance to China from Taiwan in 2019.
On Friday, Blinken met with the foreign ministers of Australia, Japan and India at a summit in Melbourne of the four-nation coalition called the Quad.
During the meeting, he affirmed that the United States is committed to bolstering its presence across Asia and presenting a different vision of the future than the one offered by China.
In the same vein, the Secretary of State stated that Russia could invade Ukraine at any time, even during the Beijing Winter Olympics.
“Simply put, we continue to see very troubling signs of Russian escalation, including new forces arriving at the Ukrainian border,” he revealed. “As we’ve said before, we’re in a window when an invasion could begin at any time, and to be clear, that includes during the Olympics.”
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