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.
A signaling system malfunction disrupted high-speed rail (HSR) services beginning at 8am today, with trains temporarily reduced to three northbound and three southbound trains per hour as authorities conduct inspections. The malfunction occurred on a section of track in Miaoli County during pre-operation checks early this morning, forcing northbound and southbound trains to use a single track, the HSR operator said. The regular schedule has been replaced with three hourly trains offering only nonreserved seating in each direction, stopping at every station, it said, adding that business class cars would still have reserved seating. Departures from terminal stations are scheduled at the top
Taiwan is still in the process of assessing the possibility of recruiting workers from Eswatini, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, adding that its goal is to help Eswatini upgrade its vocational training centers. If there are plans to recruit workers from Eswatini, safeguarding national security, protecting public health and ensuring the employment rights of Taiwanese would be prerequisites, Department of West Asian and African Affairs Director-General Yen Chia-liang (顏嘉良) told a news conference. Key considerations would also include filling labor shortages in specific industries, and fostering bilateral professional and technical exchanges, he said. Yen was asked about the progress of labor
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
WARNING: China should stop engaging in actions that undermine regional peace and stability, as it would only build resentment among people across the Strait, the CGA said China has deployed more than 100 navy, coast guard and other vessels in waters from the Yellow Sea to the South China Sea and the western Pacific since US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) met in Beijing, National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said yesterday. “In this part of the world, #China is the one & only PROBLEM wrecking the #StatusQuo & threatening regional peace & stability,” Wu wrote on X. In a separate post, he said Beijing was coercing Taiwan’s maritime domain, calling it illegal and provocative, after the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) expelled a
RSS