The Solomon Islands said on Thursday that it had secured a US$66 million loan from China to fund tech giant Huawei Technologies Co’s (華為) plans to build 161 telecommunications towers across the Pacific nation.
The deal marks the first financing the country of islands has received from Beijing since it signed a secretive security pact in April following the severing of diplomatic links to Taiwan.
The Solomons’ government said the deal was a “historical financial partnership” that comes after it cut ties with Taiwan and restored ties with Beijing in 2019.
Photo: AP
However, the Solomons’ growing financial and security links to China have roused concern from the US and its allies. Western officials said that China could use the security pact to build a military base in the country — something Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare has repeatedly denied.
Under the terms of the deal, the Solomons is to receive a 20-year concessional loan from state-linked Export-Import Bank of China that would fully fund Huawei’s construction of the towers, the government said in a statement.
Almost half of the towers would be built before the country hosts the Pacific Island Games in November next year, it said.
The towers would allow islanders, especially those in rural areas, to watch the Games even if they are not able to not travel to the capital, Honiara, it said.
Sogavare this month proposed changing the country’s constitution to delay national elections until after the Games, saying the country could not afford both events.
Sogavare’s comments were called a “lame excuse” by opposition leader Matthew Wale, who said that any delay to the polls would amount to “an abuse of the people’s right to exercise their vote.”
The next election — due to be held before September next year — is to be the country’s first since widespread rioting by anti-Sogavare protests broke out in Honiara last year.
It would also be the first poll since Sogavare signed the security pact with Beijing which — according to a leaked draft — allows Chinese security forces to be called in to quell unrest.
If the push to delay elections is successful, the Solomon Islands would not go to the polls until 2024 at the earliest.
NETWORK-MAPPING PROJECT: The database contains 170 detailed files of Taiwanese politicians and about 23 million records of household registration data in Taiwan China has developed a network-mapping project targeting political figures and parties in Taiwan to monitor public opinion during elections and to craft tailored influence campaigns aimed at dividing Taiwanese society, according to documents leaked by Chinese technology firm GoLaxy (中科天璣). The documents, collected by Taipei-based Doublethink Lab, showed a database was specifically created to gather detailed information on Taiwanese political figures, including their political affiliations, job histories, birthplaces, residences, education, religion and a brief biography about them. Several notable Taiwanese politicians are in the database, including President William Lai (賴清德), former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍),
RECOGNITION: Former Fijian prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry said that Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy serves as a stabilizing force in the Indo-Pacific region Taiwan can lead the unification of the Chinese people, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former Polish president Lech Walesa said in Taipei yesterday, adding that as the world order is changing, peaceful discussion would find good solutions, and that the use of force and coercion would always fail. Walesa made the remarks during his keynote address at a luncheon of the Yushan Forum in Taipei, titled “Indo-Pacific Partnership Prospects: Taiwan’s Values, Technology and Resilience,” organized by the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Walesa said that he had been at the forefront of a big peaceful revolution and “if
UPGRADED MISSILE: The Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology is reportedly to conduct a live-fire test of the Hsiung Feng III anti-ship missile on Thursday next week The US Army is planning to build new facilities to boost explosives production and strengthen its supply chain, a move aimed at addressing munitions shortages and supporting obligations to partners including Taiwan, Ukraine and Israel, Defense News reported. The army has issued a sources sought notice for a proposed Center of Excellence at the Blue Grass Army Depot in Kentucky, the report said. The facility would serve as a hub within the US industrial base for the production of key military explosives, including research department explosives (RDX) and high melting explosives (HMX), while also supporting research and development of next-generation materials. The proposed
SOUTH KOREA DISPUTE: If Seoul continues to ignore its request, Taiwan would change South Korea’s designation on its arrival cards, the foreign ministry said If South Korea does not reply appropriately to a request to correct Taiwan’s name on its e-Arrival card system before March 31, the government would take corresponding measures to change how South Korea is labeled on the online Taiwan Arrival Card system, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. South Korea’s e-Arrival card system lists Taiwan as “China (Taiwan)” in the “point of departure” and “next destination” fields. Taipei has asked Seoul to change the wording. Since March 1, South Koreans who hold government-issued Alien Resident Certificates (ARC) have been identified as from “South Korea” rather than the “Republic of Korea,” the
RSS