On Tuesday last week, China confirmed it had sealed a security pact with the Solomon Islands.
“China and Solomon Islands have officially signed a framework agreement on bilateral security cooperation,” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Wang Wenbin (汪文彬) told a news conference.
Based on a leaked document on social media, the Solomon Islands “may request China to send police, armed police, military personnel and other law enforcement and armed forces,” and that Beijing could send ships for stopovers and to replenish supplies.
As the pact could give China a military foothold in the South Pacific, countries in the Pacific region have voiced concerns.
On Wednesday last week, the People’s Liberation Army Daily ran an article titled “Troops need to prepare for war,” in which it said: “Men need to prepare ... in terms of capability and even mindset.”
If China wishes to transform from a green-water navy to a blue-water navy — meaning a maritime force capable of operating globally — then it needs a destination for it to send troops, and a legitimate reason to do so.
Located 5,000km from China’s Fujian Province, the Solomon Islands is in the southern hemisphere. As the seasons there are the opposite of those in the northern hemisphere, the Solomon Islands could not be a more ideal naval base for distance training.
Whether it is the Shandong or Liaoning aircraft carrier, they would no longer need to loiter in the Taiwan Strait, but could sail through the Bashi Channel or the Miyako Strait and head out into the Pacific Ocean. This move to boost the scale and strength of its military drills proves that China’s People’s Liberation Army has adjusted its direction and resolve.
With the Russian Ministry of Defense having said that its Moskva guided-missile cruiser, the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea fleet, sank on April 14, there is no end in sight to the war in Ukraine.
As it focuses on staying above the fray, China’s ploy with the Solomon Islands is about bolstering its defense plans in the South Pacific. It is also a harbinger of Beijing’s grand strategy and long game: The formation of a military alliance to take on the democracies of the West.
As an important stakeholder in the emerging dynamics of the Pacific region, Taiwan needs to be on its guard and make its next move carefully.
Shih Ya-hsuan is an associate professor at National Kaohsiung Normal University’s Department of Geography.
Translated by Rita Wang
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