TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The U.S. has appointed a Chinese-speaking diplomat who has previously worked to counter China’s influence as its new ambassador to the Marshall Islands.

Reuters reported on Tuesday (July 11) that U.S. President Joe Biden appointed Laura Stone to the position. Stone reportedly speaks Chinese, and according to a State Department bio, she served as the acting deputy assistant secretary for China and Mongolia from 2017 to 2019.

She also previously led the department’s Office of Chinese and Mongolian Affairs, and its economic policy office for East Asia and Pacific affairs.

The Marshall Islands is a formal diplomatic ally of Taiwan, and, like all of Taiwan's allies, its diplomatic recognition is sought by China.

In a January interview with the Washington Post, Marshallese Foreign Minister Kitlang Kabua said that a US$700 million support deal his country recently signed with the U.S. was because of the additional leverage afforded by China's interest in formal relations. “We’re not naive,” Kabua said.

Also on Tuesday, Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare announced an agreement to boost cooperation in law enforcement and security. The new cooperation builds on a security agreement signed in 2022, a significant foreign policy win for China achieved only two years after the Solomons chose to recognize China over Taiwan.

China has stepped up efforts to build ties with Pacific nations in recent years, and increased pressure on all Taiwan’s formal allies to grant it diplomatic recognition. In the time since current President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) took office, seven countries have switched formal diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China. Four of its remaining allies are in the Pacific region.