US and Chinese diplomats yesterday fought for the affections of the Solomon Islands after the small island state shocked its US allies by signing a defense pact with Beijing.
The Pacific state’s traditional allies the US and Australia are deeply suspicious of the deal, fearing it might give China a military foothold in the South Pacific.
A White House delegation landed at the airport in the capital, Honiara, and was ferried into town in a white minibus, an Agence France-Presses correspondent at the scene said, ahead of planned meetings with the government.
Photo: AFP
On the same day, Chinese Ambassador to the Solomon Islands Li Ming (李明) was not far away, attending a ceremony with Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare to hand over an elite, blue-colored running track.
It is part of a China-funded national stadium complex, reportedly worth US$53 million, that is to host next year’s Pacific Game — the first time for the island state of 800,000 people.
“On behalf of the Chinese government and people of China, we congratulate the government of the Solomon Islands,” Li said, as he delivered the latest investment to be lavished by Beijing on a Pacific nation.
As its influence grows, Beijing this week announced that it had signed the undisclosed security pact with Honiara.
A draft of the deal shocked countries in the region when it was leaked last month, particularly measures that would allow Chinese naval deployments to the Pacific nation, which lies less than 2,000km from Australia.
Sogavare says the pact will not lead to China building a military base, but this has done little to assuage the concerns of the US and Australia.
Too late to stop the deal, the White House said its diplomatic delegation was visiting Fiji, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands this week to “ensure our partnerships deliver prosperity, security and peace across the Pacific Islands and the Indo-Pacific.”
The US diplomatic team — led by US National Security Council Indo-Pacific Coordinator Kurt Campbell and US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink — landed in Honiara just three days after the security pact with China was announced.
“We are concerned by the lack of transparency and unspecified nature of this agreement, which follows a pattern of offering shadowy, vague deals with little regional consultation in fishing, resource management, development assistance, and now security practices,” a US State Department official said in Washington this week.
“The agreement has been moving forward for some time. The reported signing does not change our concerns,” the official said.
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