US opens embassy in Tonga, expanding Pacific reach

Nuku'Alofa, Tonga (AFP) May 10, 2023

The United States said it has opened an embassy in the Kingdom of Tonga, as it jostles with China's growing clout in the South Pacific. Tonga, a Polynesian archipelago of about 100,000 people, is the latest in a string of Pacific island states targeted in a renewed US diplomatic push into the region. The new embassy in the capital Nuku'alofa was officially opened Tuesday, the US State De