SYDNEY, Australia — The Solomon Islands signed a security pact with China with its “eyes
wide open”, the Pacific nation’s prime minister said Wednesday, despite strong
US and Australian opposition to the deal.
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Prime Minister
Manasseh Sogavare said it was an “honor and privilege” to tell parliament the
agreement had been signed by officials in Honiara and Beijing “a few days ago”.
The deal, announced
Tuesday by Beijing, has faced sharp criticism from the US and Australia, which
fear the pact could lead to China gaining a military foothold in the South
Pacific.
Sogavare said his
government had signed the deal “with our eyes wide open” but declined to say
when the signed version would be made public.
A draft of the deal
sent shockwaves across the region when it was leaked last month, particularly
measures that would allow Chinese naval deployments to the Solomon Islands,
which lies less than 2,000km from Australia.
The broad wording
of the draft prompted a flurry of diplomatic overtures from Washington and
Canberra to prevent it from being signed — including a last-ditch visit from
Australia’s Pacific minister — but they were ultimately unsuccessful.
The Solomon Islands
and China have been moving closer in recent years, with Sogavare’s government
severing ties with Taiwan in September 2019, just days before its Pacific
neighbor Kiribati followed suit in recognizing Beijing.
‘Little Cuba’
Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison faced a barrage of questions about
his handling of the Solomon Islands as news of the deal broke during a closely
fought federal election campaign.
Morrison said he
would visit the Pacific nation “at the first opportunity” but rejected
criticism that he or Foreign Minister Marise Payne should have traveled to the
Solomons to personally lobby against the deal.
Morrison added that
Australia had to respect decisions made by regional neighbors and said he had
“spent countless hours in meetings with Pacific Island leaders”.
But Morrison’s deputy,
Barnaby Joyce, struck a different tone, telling reporters the deal would enable
China to set up a military base in the Solomon Islands, which has a population
of less than 800,000.
“We don’t want a
‘little Cuba’ off our coast,” he said.
Sogavare has previously
said there was “no intention whatsoever ... to ask China to build a military
base in the Solomon Islands”.
The deal was signed
just days before senior US National Security Council official Kurt Campbell is
due to arrive in the Pacific nation for high-level talks.
The United States
has promised to reopen its embassy in the Solomon Islands, which has been
closed since 1993.
‘Deal rushed through’
Mihai Sora from the Sydney-based Lowy Institute think tank said it was
“almost certain the deal was rushed through” ahead of Campbell’s visit.
He said there was
very little that Australia could have done to stop the deal, given it was
“personal for Sogavare”.
But, Sora added: “I
think he is honest when he says he doesn’t want a Chinese military base in the
Pacific.”
Last November,
protests against Sogavare’s rule sparked violent riots in the Solomon Islands’
capital, during which the city’s Chinatown was torched.
While the unrest
was partly fueled by poverty, unemployment, and inter-island rivalries,
anti-China sentiment also played a role.
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