WWII Pacific battlegrounds now site of US-China tug of war

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited Kolonia in August 2019. [AFP]

Pacific islands that were key World War II battlegrounds but largely neglected for the past 30 years are now back in the spotlight as China challenges traditional US supremacy in the region.

Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands, whose territories stretch thousands of kilometres across the Pacific, have been the recipients of largesse by Washington, Tokyo, and other allied powers, but otherwise mostly ignored in recent decades.