The United States has reached a deal with Micronesia to extend decades-old political and security ties, as China attempts to build influence in the region.
State Department officials said on Wednesday that three documents related to Micronesia’s Compacts of Free Association (COFA) with the United States had been signed in Pohnpei, signalling the extension of a 20-year-old arrangement that gives the island nation defence and security guarantees, and Washington the right to locate military facilities across a swath of the central Pacific.
