A bipartisan group of lawmakers has announced the formation of a task force to combat China’s growing influence in the Indo-Pacific. During a press conference at the House Triangle in Washington, House Committee on Natural Resources Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) and Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) announced the creation of the new task force. Westerman…

The three Freely Associated States in the Pacific Islands region with whom the United States holds special economic and defense relationships are important for countering China’s increasing footprint in the region, according to a recent report by the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), a federally-funded think tank. Amidst this increasing power rivalry with China, the…

The United States needs to ramp up diplomatic ties with Freely Associated States (FAS)—Palau, the Marshall Islands, and Micronesia—to restrict Beijing’s expansionism in the Pacific region, according to a new report. The United States Institute for Peace said Beijing saw Pacific nations as a “low-investment, high-reward” opportunity. “China has not focused on the FAS in its…