Obama committed to deep Pacific ties: Nides

AUCKLAND: US President Barack Obama personally ensured a top-level delegation attended this year's Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) to demonstrate Washington's commitment to the region, a US official said Thursday.

Obama, who has described himself as "America's first Pacific president", dispatched the largest US delegation to ever visit the summit to send a message of friendship to the region, said US Deputy Secretary of State Tom Nides.

"The President himself has asked us to come and be here to represent the United States," Nides told reporters at the PIF, which is being held in Auckland, New Zealand this year.

He said the delegation, which New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully said included about 50 officials, reflected the Pacific's strategic and economic importance to Washington.

"Without question, the President is very much focused on what we're doing in this region and more importantly showing our deep and everlasting friendship with our friends in New Zealand," he said.

Nides dismissed suggestions Washington was uncomfortable with the growing influence of China in the region, which has been fuelled in recent years by increasing levels of aid from Beijing to Pacific island countries.

"We look at our relationship with China the same way we look at any other around the world," he said.

"We are partners, we work together, are very comfortable with our relationship... we're all here for the same objective, to show our support for the Pacific islands."

Nides also expressed hope that Fiji, which has been ruled by the military since a 2006 coup, will "move towards democracy, where we believe they should be".

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited New Zealand and the Pacific last November, saying the trip was "part of a committed concerted effort to restore America's rightful place as an engaged Pacific nation".

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011