The United States and Fiji have held talks to strengthen their military ties, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Saturday during his visit to the Pacific country.

The two countries are currently negotiating a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) that will allow the United States “to deploy and redeploy forces in support of Fiji,” according to Austin.

The US defense secretary added that this would help “the United States train more regularly with the Fijians.”

The United States also pledged $4.9 million (4.7 million euros) for Fiji’s military modernization and signed a logistics cooperation agreement, the US Department of Defense said.

The trip marked the first-ever visit to Fiji by a U.S. Secretary of Defense and the final leg of Austin’s tour of the Asia-Pacific region that included stops in Australia, the Philippines and Laos.

Stuck between Washington and Beijing

Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka called Austin’s visit “a historic moment in U.S.-Fiji relations.”

The former military commander said his country looked forward to “continuing to work closely with the United States, including with the new Trump administration.”

“We are all here to talk about peace and how we keep, protect and promote that peace,” he said.

The power struggle between Washington and Beijing in the South Pacific region makes Fiji an important ally.

The largely pro-Western Rabuka recently visited Beijing, where he signed bilateral agreements on trade, infrastructure and Chinese language teaching.

SS/ZC (Reuters, AFP)