U.S. to open embassies in Tonga, other Pacific island countries: senior diplomat

WASHINGTON, May 3 (Xinhua) -- The United States will open an embassy in Tonga later this month, with more embassies expected to be established in other Pacific island countries including Kiribati and Vanuatu, said a senior State Department official Tuesday.

Daniel Kritenbrink, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, told a subcommittee of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee during a hearing on the current administration's fiscal year 2024 budget requirement that the budget will be of help to Washington's "expanded diplomatic presence across the Indo-Pacific, including a new Embassy in the Solomon Islands and planning for new embassies in Kiribati, Tonga, and Vanuatu."

The administration's FY 2024 budget request for the East Asian and Pacific region includes a diplomatic engagement budget of 533 million U.S. dollars and a foreign assistance budget of 1.36 billion dollars, as well as 2 billion dollars to support the U.S. "Indo-Pacific Strategy," Kritenbrink told the senators.

The United States officially announced the opening of its embassy in the Solomon Islands on Feb. 2.