US says to open Vanuatu embassy 'imminently,' working on Kiribati approval

The United States is to open an embassy in the Pacific territory of Vanuatu "imminently" and is working to get the approval of the parliament in Kiribati for a mission there, the top U.S. diplomat for East Asia said on Thursday. We will be open imminently in Vanuatu.

The United States is to open an embassy in the Pacific territory of Vanuatu "imminently" and is working to get the approval of the parliament in Kiribati for a mission there, the top U.S. diplomat for East Asia said on Thursday. The United States has been working to boost its diplomatic presence in the Pacific region to counter growing competition for influence there from China.

Kritenbrink told a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing the United States had already opened two of the four new embassies it planned for the region. "We've successfully done so in the Solomon Islands and in Tonga. We will be open imminently in Vanuatu. And ... we're working diligently to follow up on Kiribati, and we'll need parliamentary approval for that, but we're working actively on that," he said.