The United States will buttress security partnerships across the Pacific as it strengthens ties with island nations, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Friday. Hillary Clinton arrived in the tiny Pacific outpost of the Cook Islands for this year's Pacific Islands Forum, part of Washington's effort to woo nations across the Asia-Pacific. She told the gathering, which represents 16 independent and self-governing states ranging from Australia and New Zealand to smaller islands such as Tuvalu and Nauru, that the United States was in the region for the long haul. "The Pacific is big enough for all of us" and dismissing the notion that expanded U.S. activity was "a hedge against particular countries." "We think it is important for the Pacific Island nations to have good relationships with as many partners as possible, and that includes China as well as the United States," Hillary Clinton told a news conference with New Zealand Prime Minister John Key. "We want to see more international development projects that include the participation of China," she said, citing disaster relief, maritime security and preserving bio-diversity. "We think that there's a great opportunity to work with China and we're going to be looking for more ways to do that," she was quoted as saying by Reuters. China's Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai is also attending the Pacific forum and told reporters Beijing's presence in the Pacific was not about geo-political influence. "We are here to work with island countries to achieve sustainable development, because both China and the Pacific island countries belong to the rank of developing countries.
