Solomon Islands has said it won’t allow China to build a military base as it seeks to counter international fears over its new security alliance with China. But that insistence will do little to ease concerns about the pact from the nation’s traditional partners that include New Zealand, Australia and the United States. The leader of Micronesia added his voice to those expressing trepidation by invoking the bloody battles of the second world war and warning that the pact could again see the South Pacific region become a battleground for…
Tag: Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands’ Leader Calls Concern Over China Security Deal ‘Insulting’
MELBOURNE, Australia — In a fiery speech confirming that the Solomon Islands has drafted a security agreement with China, the island nation’s leader said on Tuesday that the deal was “ready for signing” and criticized as “insulting” concerns from Australia and New Zealand that the pact could destabilize the region’s security. Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare’s remarks to Parliament marked the first time he had addressed the leak last week of a draft of the security agreement. The draft — which was shared by opponents of the deal and verified as…
‘Utter nonsense’: Solomon Islands PM says China is not a threat to regional stability – video
Solomon Islands prime minister Manasseh Sogavare has dismissed foreign criticism of the country’s security negotiations with China as ‘insulting’ and called those who leaked the draft agreement ‘lunatics’, in his first comments to parliament on the proposed treaty. ‘We find it very insulting, Mr Speaker, to be branded as unfit to manage our sovereign affairs,’ Sogavare said ► Subscribe to Guardian Australia on YouTube The Guardian
Australia’s lost influence in Pacific on display in Solomon Islands-China deal, Anthony Albanese says
Australia has lost influence in the Pacific by failing to act on climate and cutting foreign aid, Anthony Albanese says, amid concerns about China’s proposed security deal with Solomon Islands. Australia and New Zealand are worried the draft agreement could jeopardise regional stability, with China having the opportunity to base navy warships in the Pacific less than 2,000km off the Australian coast. The prime minister of Solomon Islands, Manasseh Sogavare, is due to address parliament in Honiara on Tuesday about security cooperation with China. But the leaking of the draft…
Scott Morrison says it would have been ‘weakness’ for him to meet new Chinese ambassador
The Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, says there will be no diplomatic thaw in relations with China until it lifts a block on ministerial meetings. “So long as China continues to refuse to have dialogue with Australian ministers and the prime minister, I think that’s an entirely proportional response,” Morrison told reporters on Saturday regarding reports he declined to meet China’s new ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian. “That would be a demonstration of weakness and I can assure you as prime minister that’s the last message I’d ever send to…
China and Solomon Islands Draft Secret Security Pact
SYDNEY, Australia — A leaked document has revealed that China and the Solomon Islands are close to signing a security agreement that could open the door to Chinese troops and naval warships flowing into a Pacific Island nation that played a pivotal role in World War II. The agreement, kept secret until now, was shared online Thursday night by opponents of the deal and verified as legitimate by the Australian government. Though it is marked as a draft and cites a need for “social order” as a justification for sending…
China finalising security deal with Solomon Islands to base warships in the Pacific
Solomon Islands has signed a policing deal with China and will send a proposal for a broader security agreement covering the military to its cabinet for consideration. According to a copy of the draft security agreement circulating on social media on Thursday, it would allow China to base navy warships in the Pacific, less than 2,000km off Australia’s coast. The arrangements are also likely to worry the United States, which said in February it would open an embassy in Solomon Islands after senior US administration officials expressed concern China wanted…
‘A blatant lie’: China and Taiwan fight for credit over rescue of sailors lost at sea for 29 days
Tensions between China and Taiwan have found an unlikely battleground – a fight over who rescued nine Papua New Guinean sailors who were lost at sea for nearly a month. The dispute came after the rescue of the Papua New Guinean nationals in Solomon Island waters after 29 days lost at sea, late in February. Credit for the mission was claimed by China in an article published in the Global Times, an English-language Chinese newspaper, on 26 February. The article claimed the ship’s captain called the Chinese embassy in Solomon…
Blinken Says U.S. Has a ‘Long-Term Future’ in the Pacific Islands
NADI, Fiji — As the first U.S. secretary of state to visit Fiji in 36 years, Antony J. Blinken wanted to make clear that jetting here to meet with Pacific island leaders was just the start of an expanding American presence. “We see our long-term future in the Indo-Pacific,” Mr. Blinken said at a news conference on Saturday night, standing next to Fiji’s acting leader. “It’s as simple and basic as that.” Mr. Blinken said the United States would soon open an embassy in another Pacific nation, the Solomon Islands.…
US plans to reopen Solomon Islands embassy in push to counter China
The United States plans to re-establish an embassy in Solomon Islands, a senior US state department official said, as Washington seeks to beef up its presence in a region where China is rapidly expanding its influence. Secretary of state Antony Blinken is set to announce the opening of a new embassy on the Pacific island state during a visit to nearby Fiji – 29 years after the United States downgraded its diplomatic presence in Honiara. The move comes just a few months after riots in the island chain of 800,000…