After Fiji, the Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs in Samoa

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Samoan Head of State Tuimalealiifano Vaaletoa Sualauvi II, in Apia on Thursday June 2, 2022. AFP - SARAH FRIEND

Text by: RFI Follow

2 mins

Inaugurated ten days ago, the new Australian government is wasting no time in making itself known on the international scene.

In particular in her region, the Pacific, where the head of diplomacy Penny Wong is increasing her travels.

This Thursday, June 2, she was in Samoa, before Tonga, an archipelago hit last December by a particularly violent underwater volcanic eruption.

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With our correspondent in Sydney,

Barely appointed, the new Australian Minister of Foreign Affairs will have so far spent little time in Canberra.

On her first day in office, she left with the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, to Tokyo for a

.

From where she took another plane the next day

.

This Thursday, she was in Samoa.

An eight-year humanitarian partnership has just been signed between the two countries.

On Friday, the Australian minister will be in the Tonga Islands.

The end of an excellent day in Samoa.

I wanted to visit here so soon after becoming Foreign Minister to affirm Australia's commitment to strengthening the bonds between our countries and working together to address the challenges our region faces, like climate change.

pic.twitter.com/5ZU4wB39LO

— Senator Penny Wong (@SenatorWong) June 2, 2022

Some see it as a charm offensive, but it's more of a reconquest.

Already during the election campaign, Labor had expressed its desire to renew close ties with their Pacific neighbours.

Ties that had been stretched under the mandate of Scott Morrison, little attentive to the concerns of his neighbors, in particular vis-à-vis climate change.

►Decryption: Labor victory, a new climate in Australia?

This regional tour is therefore not improvised.

One can nevertheless wonder: would it have been so widespread, and would it have taken place so early, if the Chinese government had not also launched an operation “seduction” in the region.

►International guest: "Chinese Foreign Minister's trip to the Pacific is historic"

Tired for the head of Chinese diplomacy, who ends his visit to ten countries in the region on Friday, he will have received a dismissal of his proposal for an economic and security agreement.

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• Australia

• Samoa Islands

• Fiji

• Tonga

• Anthony Albanian

• Diplomacy

• China