U.S. President Joe Biden will meet 18 leaders from the South Pacific when he visits Papua New Guinea in May, a top regional diplomat said Saturday, as the United States and China vie for influence.
The South Pacific was seen as a relative diplomatic backwater after World War II but it is increasingly the arena for powers to compete for commercial, political and military influence.
Papua New Guinea Foreign Minister Justin Tkatchenko told a news conference Biden would attend bilateral talks with his hosts and is "also having a meeting with the 18 Pacific Island leaders." The American leader is due to arrive May 22.