United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Papua New Guinea on May 21-22, sign bilateral defence and maritime security agreements and meet Pacific Islands Forum leaders, the State Department said yesterday, after President Joe Biden pulled out of a planned visit.
An unfolding crisis over the US debt ceiling prompted Biden this week to postpone a trip to Papua New Guinea. The US is trying to counterbalance China's rising influence in the Indo-Pacific region and the Biden visit was seen as part of that effort.
