The United States will soon announce plans to better battle illegal fishing in the Pacific, U.S. Indo-Pacific coordinator Kurt Campbell said on Monday, as part of increased U.S. engagement with the region to counter China's growing influence.
Several countries in the Indo-Pacific region chafe at China's vast fishing fleet. They say its vessels often violate their exclusive economic zones and cause environmental damage and economic losses.
"One of the biggest challenges in the Pacific is in fact illegal fishing," Campbell told a forum at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies, when asked about growing cooperation between China and the Solomon Islands, a longtime traditional partner of the United States.