US to Inaugurate New Embassy in Tonga During Blinken’s Visit to Australia, NZ

News Snapshot:

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to the South Pacific next week as Washington seeks to fortify its position in the region amid rising Chinese influence, the State Department announced Thursday. Blinken will travel to the Polynesian island kingdom of Tonga on July 26 for the inauguration of a new US embassy, before heading to Australia and New Zealand, the State Department said. It will be the first visit ever to Tonga by a US secretary of state, and follows Blinken’s May trip to Papua New Guinea, where he signed a security pact that allows the US military...