United States is a Pacific country as well as an Atlantic country and Australia/NZ are parts of the British Commonwealth under the monarch of the UK. Australia is a totally faithful ally and New Zealand is back on board with the Western Alliance after some period of eccentric foibles. We need each other.
It was at the G-20 recent meeting in Australia that many of the countries leaders cussed Putin at every sighting, driving him out of the Lucky Country midway through the sessions. The Russian Navy flotilla off Australia for Putin's visit scared no one.
The US is opening embassies in the Solomon islands, Tonga and Kiribati as yet another instance of deploying diplomatic staff to counter China's campaign against America and the West. Washington is opening offices of the National Security Council, Department of Defense, Department of the Interior, and USAID. Potus Biden's Emergency Plan for Adaptation and Resilience that addresses climate change is being implemented throughout the island states of the Pacific. Beijing does nothing about climate with the Pacific island nations.
Washington is coordinating the February 2022 volcano and tsunami relief efforts in Tonga with Australia, Fiji, France, Japan, NZ, UK. The USN Sampson DDG 102 is in Tongan waters to assist the humanitarian relief effort. The Sampson provided humanitarian assistance after the earthquake in Kaikōura, New Zealand, in 2016 and is currently supporting the Australian Defence Force’s relief efforts throughout Tonga. Beijing doesn't do this and managed to send $50,000 relief to the Philippines after a recent devastating typhoon while the US sent the aircraft carrier Reagan based in Japan with massive relief support across the devastated islands.
The US has military assets at the Marshall Islands, Palau, and Guam that are mostly defense platforms. This year the Hawaii National Guard begins training Taiwan reserve forces in Hawaii to upgrade their capability and readiness, in rotation of Taiwan armed forces units. CCP Boyz in Beijing are hollering themselves blue in the face against this but no matter, it's a done deal.
