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
With escalating US-China competition and mutual distrust, the trend of supply chain “friend shoring” in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the fragmentation of the world into rival geopolitical blocs, many analysts and policymakers worry the world is retreating into a new cold war — a world of trade bifurcation, protectionism and deglobalization. The world is in a new cold war, said Robin Niblett, former director of the London-based think tank Chatham House. Niblett said he sees the US and China slowly reaching a modus vivendi, but it might take time. The two great powers appear to be “reversing carefully
Taiwan is facing multiple economic challenges due to internal and external pressures. Internal challenges include energy transition, upgrading industries, a declining birthrate and an aging population. External challenges are technology competition between the US and China, international supply chain restructuring and global economic uncertainty. All of these issues complicate Taiwan’s economic situation. Taiwan’s reliance on fossil fuel imports not only threatens the stability of energy supply, but also goes against the global trend of carbon reduction. The government should continue to promote renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power, as well as energy storage technology, to diversify energy supply. It
Former Japanese minister of defense Shigeru Ishiba has been elected as president of the governing Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and would be approved as prime minister in parliament today. Ishiba is a familiar face for Taiwanese, as he has visited the nation several times. His popularity among Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) lawmakers has grown as a result of his multiple meetings and encounters with legislators and prominent figures in the government. The DPP and the LDP have close ties and have long maintained warm relations. Ishiba in August 2020 praised Taiwan’s
On Thursday last week, the International Crisis Group (ICG) issued a well-researched report titled “The Widening Schism across the Taiwan Strait,” which focused on rising tensions between Taiwan and China, making a number of recommendations on how to avoid conflict. While it is of course laudable that a respected international organization such as the ICG is willing to think through possible avenues toward a peaceful resolution, the report contains a couple of fundamental flaws in the way it approaches the issue. First, it attempts to present a “balanced approach” by pushing back equally against Taiwan’s perceived transgressions as against Beijing’s military threats
RSS