<div style="text-align: justify; "><b style="font-size: 1rem;">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.</b><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">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.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The new embassy in the capital Nuku'alofa was officially opened Tuesday, the US State Department said in a statement, with more diplomatic staff to follow.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"This opening symbolises the renewal of our relationship and underlines the strength of our bilateral relations, to the people of Tonga, and to our partnerships in the Indo-Pacific region," it said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The State Department tipped the "potential appointment" of a resident US ambassador to Tonga.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The United States also has plans to open embassies in Vanuatu and Kiribati, and in February it restored its embassy in Solomon Islands after a 30-year hiatus.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The United States has been the dominant military force in the South Pacific since World War II.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But the region is increasingly the arena for powers to compete for commercial, political and military influence.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">China, the rising military power in the region, has also asserted itself through its expanding diplomatic reach, investment, police training, and security deals.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The United States and its allies were taken by surprise when China reached a secretive security pact last year with Solomon Islands.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Despite denials from Solomon Islands, US and Australian officials have voiced concerns the pact could open vast waters to China's military. AFP</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>