A high-ranking representative of the United States made a call today to the Pacific countries to be careful with the increasing influence of some authoritarian regimes, reported France Press.

US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, who is visiting the Solomon Islands, said Pacific countries should be wary of leaders who "think coercion, pressure and violence are tools they can use with impunity".

Sherman did not name the leaders he was talking about.

The deputy secretary of state is in the Solomon Islands to mark the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Guadalcanal, the first major land offensive by the United States and its allies against Japan and a turning point in the Pacific War.

The Solomon Islands agreement with China prompted meetings of the country's prime minister with his counterparts from Australia and New Zealand

Sherman hinted that the current situation in the world resembled the Allies' struggle against Nazism and against Imperial Japan in the 1930s and 1940s, and urged Pacific countries not to succumb to authoritarianism.

"We remember how wrong and empty these ideas were," said the high-ranking American representative.

"Today we are waging a struggle again, but of a different kind," she added.

"It's up to us to decide whether we want societies where people are free to express their opinions" and "whether we want governments that are transparent and accountable to their people," Sherman stressed.