Western pressure mounts on Solomons to quash pact with China

CANBERRA, Australia (AP):

Australia and the United States are stepping up diplomatic outreach to the Solomon Islands after China signed a security deal with the South Pacific island nation that could lead to Beijing establishing a military presence there.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Wednesday that his minister for International Development and the Pacific, Zed Seselja, had flown to the Solomon Islands the day before for talks with Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare on the April 1 security pact the country agreed to with China.

Seselja said he had asked Sogavare to abandon the Chinese agreement.

“We have asked Solomon Islands respectfully to consider not signing the agreement and to consult the Pacific family in the spirit of regional openness and transparency, consistent with our region’s security frameworks,” Seselja said in a statement.

The trip came the same day that US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman spoke with Solomon Islands Foreign Minister Jeremiah Manele about Washington’s plan to reopen an embassy in the capital, Honiara.

The announcement of reopening the embassy, which has been closed since 1993, came in February before the security pact came to light, but amid already growing concerns about Chinese influence in the strategically important country.

A Chinese military presence in the Solomon Islands would put it not only on the doorstep of Australia and New Zealand, but also in close proximity to Guam, with its massive US military bases.

At the time he announced the embassy’s reopening, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US was seeking to increase its influence in the Solomon Islands before China becomes “strongly embedded”.

State Department spokesman Ned Price said the call between Sherman and Manele touched on “our joint efforts to broaden and deepen engagement between our countries”, in addition to the embassy plans, but gave no further details.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian defended Beijing’s cooperation with the Solomons as being based on “the principle of mutual respect and mutual benefit” and in line with international law and international practice.

“It is conducive to the social stability and lasting peace and safety of Solomon Islands and will help promote peace, stability and development of Solomon Islands and the rest of South Pacific region,” Zhao told reporters Wednesday at a daily briefing.

“The security cooperation between China and the Solomon Islands does not target any third party or work in opposition to the Solomon Islands’ cooperation with other countries, but will complement the exiting regional cooperation mechanism in a positive way,” he said.