US reopens embassy in Seychelles after 27-year absence

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States has reopened its embassy in the Seychelles after a 27-year absence during which China and other U.S. rivals made significant inroads in the Indian Ocean islands. The U.S. State Department announced the move late Thursday. It came after Washington unveiled plans to open a diplomatic mission in northern Norway which will be its only only such facility above the Arctic Circle. The Seychelles embassy is part of a push to counter China’s growing influence in the Indo-Pacific. The U.S. is already constructing an embassy in the Maldives and has opened or announced plans to open embassies in the Pacific including in the Solomon Islands, Tonga and Kiribati. The U.S. Embassy in the Seychelles capital of Victoria was shuttered in 1996 as part of cost-saving measures.