The White House has said it is disappointed the Solomon Islands prime minister, Manasseh Sogavare, will not attend a Pacific Islands summit with Joe Biden next week. The US president will host a second summit with leaders of the Pacific Islands Forum at the White House on Monday as part of his efforts to step up engagement with a region where the US is in a battle for influence with China. “We are disappointed that PM Sogavare of the Solomons does not plan to attend,” a Biden Administration official said. Sogavare used his speech to the United Nations general assembly in New York on Friday to praise China’s development cooperation as “less restrictive, more responsive and aligned to our national needs”, and said Beijing was its lead infrastructure partner. Sogavare said he reached an understanding with President Xi Jinping during a July visit to China for Solomon Islands to achieve development through China’s policies, including the belt and road initiative (BRI) and the global security initiative. Separately, China and Timor Leste announced they had upgraded …

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