Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare yesterday said that the backlash to his nation’s security negotiations with China was “very insulting,” in his first comments on a security treaty he said was ready to sign.
Australia, New Zealand and the US have expressed concern about security negotiations between the Pacific island nation and China which became public last week after the leak of a draft security treaty, prompting concern over a Chinese military base in the region.
Sogavare yesterday told parliament that the leaked security document was a draft and he would not give details on the content of the final deal.
Photo: Reuters
“We are not pressured in any way by our new friends and there is no intention whatsoever to ask China to build a military base in the Solomon Islands,” he said.
The Solomon Islands switched diplomatic allegiance to China from Taiwan in 2019.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Monday said that it was a “potential militarization of the region,” while Australian Minister for Defence Peter Dutton said Canberra would be concerned if the deal led to a Chinese military base in the Pacific.
Sogavare expressed criticism of larger nations who he said did not care if Pacific islands went under water because of climate change and considered the region “the backyard of big Western powers.”
He also denied opposition claims that a pact with China would lead to an autocratic government.
During anti-government riots last year, Sogavare said the Chinatown district in the capital Honiara was burned down and there were also threats to sports infrastructure for next year’s Pacific Games, a reference to seven stadiums being built by China.
“If any country does not have the political appetite to do that, we must have an alternative arrangement in place,” he said.
The leaked draft said the security treaty would allow China’s armed police and the military to protect Chinese projects.
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Wang Wenbin (汪文斌) yesterday in Beijing said that its “law enforcement and security cooperation” with the Solomons Islands was in accordance with the law and international norms.
“We hope relevant countries respect Solomons’ sovereignty and the decisions it made, instead of thinking condescendingly that they are entitled to demand what the Solomon Islands can or cannot do,” Wang said.
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