SYDNEY—President Biden’s economic platform to counter China in the Indo-Pacific region expanded to 14 founding members after the U.S. said Fiji had agreed to join, a move that comes on the eve of a visit by Beijing’s top diplomat to the Pacific island nation.
The Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, launched on Monday, represents the latest effort by the U.S. to intensify engagement in a region that has become an arena for strategic competition between Washington and Beijing in recent years. While the trade initiative included traditional allies like Australia and Japan, along with large economies such as India and Indonesia, it initially lacked the involvement of a Pacific island country in a vast area of ocean that is home to major shipping lanes and fisheries.
