US Pushes Pacific Islands to Counter China
Fact Sheet/September
16, 2025
Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau hosted
a U.S.–Pacific Islands Forum Roundtable in Port Moresby, reaffirming U.S.
commitment to a free and open Pacific under the second Trump Administration.
The dialogue focused on aligning priorities to deliver tangible economic,
security, health, and people-to-people benefits.
Boosting
Economic Partnership
·
MCC Programs: Fiji selected for compact
development; Tonga approved for a threshold program.
·
Digital Connectivity: $95M+
East Micronesia Cable on track for Nov 2025 completion; new funding for spurs
to Tuvalu, FSM, RMI, and Kiribati; $4.5M to expand terrestrial infrastructure.
·
South Pacific Tuna Treaty: $60M
assistance supporting access for U.S. vessels, generating major economic
returns.
·
Critical Minerals: $3.3M
NOAA support for deep-sea research; $250K BOEM technical assistance to Cook
Islands; U.S.–PNG joint geoscience survey launched.
·
Infrastructure: $5M for USTDA project prep;
U.S.-led airport modernization in Palau; U.S. Department of War military
construction in PNG ports and airports; $1.5M Treasury support for
correspondent banking; $110M World Bank investment in Kiribati airport.
Strengthening
Security
·
PNG Framework for Strategic Cooperation signed
(covering defense, maritime security, minerals, infrastructure, digital
economy).
·
UXO Programs: Expanded to PNG with $4.25M
total support.
·
Palau Fiscal Support: $20M in
budget support to enhance resilience.
·
USCG Cooperation: 12
“Shiprider” maritime enforcement agreements; 2024 PNG patrols conducted;
expanded cutter deployments in Oceania.
·
Defense & Training: $11M FMF
for PNG’s HA/DR, maritime security; PNGDF participation in Exercise Talisman
Sabre; DHS/FLETC advisor to support PNG police reforms.
Health
Resilience
·
CDC Support: Ongoing technical assistance and
dengue outbreak response in Nauru.
·
Early Warning & Vector Management: Support
for dengue early warning system and Pacific Vector Network.
·
Global Health Security:
Continued bilateral and regional support, including with SPC.
·
PEPFAR: $26.95M (2018–2025) invested in
PNG for HIV/AIDS prevention and care.
People-to-People
Ties
·
Young Pacific Leaders Workshop: October
2025, focusing on maritime security, cyber, and health.
·
Peace Corps: Continued engagement with
communities across the Pacific Islands.
Starting under the first Trump Administration, the United
States has worked to reprioritize the Pacific Islands region in U.S. foreign policy
and advance U.S. strategic objectives by fostering economic growth, expanding infrastructure
and connectivity, and bolstering security cooperation. Under this second Trump Administration, the United
States has renewed its commitment to a free and open Pacific Islands region. Today, Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau
held a U.S.-Pacific Islands Roundtable meeting in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea,
where he announced that we are reinvigorating our partnership and re-aligning our
mutual priorities to deliver on concrete benefits for Americans and Pacific Islanders.
Boosting Economic Partnership and Advancing Mutual Prosperity
The United States is working with the Pacific Islands
to drive economic development and commercial cooperation and looking ahead by safeguarding
key economic sectors for the future.
·
Millennium
Challenge Corporation Programs: The Millennium
Challenge Corporation Board of Directors selected Fiji as eligible to develop a
compact and approved Tonga to develop a threshold program, which will create new
opportunities to strengthen development partnerships that encourage trade over aid
and investment over assistance with key partners in the Pacific Islands.
·
Digital Connectivity: The United States is working to deliver open, secure,
and trusted digital connectivity across the Pacific to increase economic opportunities
for Pacific peoples:
o
The East
Micronesia Cable (EMC), jointly funded with a combined over $95 million from
the United States, Australia, and Japan, will connect over 100,000 people across
the Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, and Nauru, and is on track for completion
in November 2025
o
The United
States provided $7.5 million for branching units for the Federated States of Micronesia,
the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and Kiribati to connect to the Central
Pacific Connect cable and is contributing $5 million to support the spur for
Tuvalu alongside a major contribution from Taiwan. The initiative has now grown
to over $100 million in donor supported funding.
o
The United
States intends to provide $4.5 million in support of terrestrial infrastructure
to build on existing undersea cable investments and expand connectivity. The State Department intends to fund several regional
workshops on technology regulations related to trusted information and communications
technology (ICT), including satellite connectivity and broadband connectivity.
·
South Pacific
Tuna Treaty: The United States has provided $60
million in foreign assistance to the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency associated
with the South Pacific Tuna Treaty, which allows U.S.-flagged vessels to fish in
the exclusive economic zones of 16 Pacific Islands countries, generating hundreds
of millions of dollars per year in gross revenue for the U.S. economy.
·
Critical Minerals
and Deep Seabed Exploration: The United
States is supporting advancement of deep sea science that can be used to inform
seabed mineral development and responsible mining activities in the Pacific to secure
access to reliable supplies of critical minerals for strategic industries, which
will benefit the U.S. industry and the region.
o
Working with
Congress, and in partnership with the U.S. Department of State, the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) intends to provide $3.3 million in additional
deep sea research support. NOAA is
supporting continued deep sea research in the region, including a 21-day expedition
in October 2025 of the affiliate vessel E/V Nautilus to explore previously
unsurveyed deep sea priority habitat areas of the Cook Islands.
o
The U.S. Department
of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) in partnership with the
U.S. Department of State, intends to provide $250,000 in technical assistance
to the Cook Islands that supports capacity building, facilitates knowledge exchange,
and attracts new investment in the seabed minerals sector.
o
The U.S. Department
of State is working with Papua New Guinea’s Mineral Resources Authority to undertake
joint geoscience survey work that will directly advance the identification of critical
mineral resource potential.
·
Critical Infrastructure: The United States is delivering on hard infrastructure
in the region to drive economic development in partnership with trusted suppliers.
o
Infrastructure
Project Acceleration: Working with
Congress, the State Department plans to provide $5 million in new funding to the
U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) to support the acceleration of project
preparation in key sectors. USTDA is funding
the development of American-led airport infrastructure at the Koror International
Airport in Palau and technical assistance to support the deployment of trusted American
digital technology to support the Fiji government’s efforts to counter cyber threats
and modernize the delivery of digital government services.
o
Dual-Use Infrastructure: The U.S. Department
of War has programmed military construction projects to improve ports and airports
in Papua New Guinea, with a focus on Lae and Port Moresby. These projects support the construction of a warehouse
at Lae Port, fencing and flood mitigation at Jackson International Airport in Port
Moresby, a fuel storage facility in Port Moresby, a maritime training center, and
a small boat facility and small boat jetty at Lombrum Naval Base on Manus Island.
o
Financial
Connectivity: The U.S. Department of the Treasury
has provided $1.5 million to the World Bank’s Pacific Strengthening Correspondent
Banking Relationships Project to support and maintain Pacific Island countries’
connectivity to the U.S. dollar-backed global financial system.
o
Multilateral
Investments: The United States is the largest cumulative
donor and shareholder of the World Bank, which is providing $110 million towards
the remediation of Kiritimati Island airport in Kiribati.
o
Strengthening
Response Systems to Disasters: The United
States is supporting communities across the Pacific Islands, including in Papua
New Guinea, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Republic
of Palau, to prepare for and recover from natural disasters and by building long-term
resilience through community-led planning and stronger government response systems.
§ USINDOPACOM’s Center for Excellence in Disaster Management
and Humanitarian Assistance (CFE-DM) has updated its disaster management handbook
to mark 50 years of U.S.-Papua New Guinea Relations on September 16. The handbook builds local crisis response capacity,
fosters civil-military relationships, provides a vital tool for U.S.-PNG cooperation
during a crisis, strengthens the resilience of Papua New Guinea, and supports our
shared vision for a secure and open Indo-Pacific.
Strengthening Security and Force Posture
The United States is working with key Pacific partners
to strengthen our bilateral security networks.
·
Framework
for Strategic Cooperation with Papua New Guinea: The United States and Papua New Guinea signed a multi-sector
Framework for Strategic Cooperation outlining priority areas of collaboration between
the two countries going forward, including defense, maritime security, law enforcement,
critical minerals and infrastructure, economic and commercial issues, and the digital
economy.
·
Unexploded
Ordnance (UXO): The United
States maintains programs to address World War II-era UXO in the Marshall Islands,
Micronesia, Palau, and Solomon Islands. In
May 2025, the United States launched a new UXO program in Papua New Guinea, and
the U.S. Department of State has provided an additional $2 million to expand this
program to a total of $4.25 million.
·
Fiscal Reform
Support to Palau: The U.S.
Department of State has partnered with the U.S. Department of the Interior to provide
$20 million in budget support to the Government of Palau to increase its fiscal
stability and resilience to economic coercion.
·
U.S. Coast
Guard Cooperation: The USCG enhances partner nation maritime effectiveness
in the Pacific Island region by operationalizing 12 bilateral maritime law enforcement
agreements. Frequently referred to as “Shiprider
Agreements,” these agreements extend partner nation capability by extending their
authority to conduct law enforcement operations from USCG vessels.
o
For example,
in 2024, the USCG conducted two patrols within Papua New Guinea’s exclusive economic
zone in support of its national security and to counter Illegal, Unreported, and
Unregulated Fishing (IUU-F) operations. During the patrols, USCG cutters, operating
under the Papua New Guinea maritime law enforcement agreement, conducted 14 boardings,
expanding the country’s maritime domain awareness and preserving security of its
resources.
o
The USCG homeported
six 154-ft Fast Response Cutters and one 270-ft Medium Endurance Cutter in Oceania
in addition to the presence of National Security Cutters, allowing for expanded
operations in the region.
·
Enhancing
Papua New Guinea’s Security Capabilities: The U.S. Department of State is utilizing $11 million in foreign military
financing to enhance PNG’s capabilities in humanitarian assistance and disaster
relief (HA/DR), maritime security, maritime domain awareness, and military professionalization
is underway.
o
In 2025, the
Papua New Guinea Defense Force (PNGDF) participated in the multilateral Exercise
Talisman Sabre alongside the United States and Australia and hosted its first-ever
component outside of Australia.
·
Law Enforcement
Training for Papua New Guinea: The U.S. Department
of State’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) intends
to provide a resident advisor from the Department of Homeland Security Federal Law
Enforcement Training Centers (FLETC) to support law enforcement development in Papua
New Guinea and to enhance police recruitment and retention, consistent with Prime
Minister Marape’s law and order agenda.
Health Resilience and Security
The United States is working with the Pacific Islands
to prevent and combat disease outbreaks.
·
CDC Technical
Assistance: CDC continues to provide technical
assistance to support vector-borne disease prevention, including dengue fever, through
the Pacific Community’s Pacific Public Health Surveillance Network (PPHSN) and the
Pacific Island Health Officers’ Association (PIHOA).
o
CDC also provided
direct technical assistance to Nauru in July 2025 in response to the ongoing
dengue outbreak.
·
Dengue Early
Warning: The U.S. Department of State has supported
the Pacific Island Health Officer’s Association (PIHOA) to develop a dengue early
warning system that can help the Pacific Islands respond earlier to dengue outbreaks.
·
Vector Management: The U.S. Department of State supported the launch of
the Pacific Vector Network to coordinate vector management activities across the
Pacific Islands, which strengthens the ability across the region to respond to mosquito-borne
diseases.
·
Global Health
Security: The U.S. Department State intends
to continue support to strengthen ability to prevent, detect, and respond to infectious
disease outbreaks in the Pacific. This includes
bilateral support for Fiji and Papua New Guinea as Global Health Security Partners
and continuing regional partnership through the Pacific Community (SPC) under a
new Strengthening Global Health Security in the Pacific Islands activity launched
last September.
·
President’s
Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR): Long-term PEPFAR investments between 2018-2025 provided $26.95 million to
support HIV/AIDS epidemic control by funding technical assistance to the government
of Papua New Guinea (PNG) and health workers and by introducing innovative care
models to improve case identification, treatment linkage, and antiretroviral therapy
administration for people living with HIV (PLHIV). PEPFAR will continue to provide support to PNG
for life-saving services to people living with HIV and those at high risk to reduce
new HIV infections and deaths.
People-to-People Ties
The United States is committed to increasing people-to-people
ties across the Pacific Islands region and working directly with communities to
support our shared vision of the region.
·
Young Pacific
Leaders: The Young Pacific Leaders program
intends to host a workshop in October connecting emerging Pacific leaders with U.S.
experts to develop tangible solutions to the unique challenges that Pacific Island
countries face with maritime security, cybersecurity, and health security.
·
Peace Corps: With deep roots and strong local ties, Peace Corps
Volunteers continue to work hand in hand with communities across the Pacific, building
on a legacy of shared progress and mutual respect. Volunteers are a vital part of efforts to empower
local growth, and the United States remains committed to this enduring relationship
and the shared future of the Pacific.