Solomon Islands

Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare and Australian Minister for International Development and the Pacific, Zed Seselja at a meeting on April 13 ...

Solomon Islands in December it wanted to send a team of 10 Chinese police with weapons including a sniper rifle and machine guns as well as listening devices to protect embassy staff in the wake of riots in Honiara. Solomon Islands officials had previously initialed a security pact with the Chinese Embassy that would allow Chinese police to protect infrastructure and social order, but ministers had not yet signed it. She also expressed concern about a lack of transparency and said the pact had the “potential to undermine stability in our region" Solomon Islands on the assurance that the decision will not adversely impact or undermine the peace and harmony of our region,” Sogavare said. Australian officials said China appeared to want to pre-empt the arrival of the US delegation in Honiara, which the White House said would discuss concerns about China, as well as the reopening of a US embassy. "Officials from the four countries represented also shared concerns about a proposed security framework between the Solomon Islands and the People's Republic of China (PRC) and its serious risks to a free and open Indo-Pacific," National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said.

SYDNEY: Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare said on Wednesday (Apr 20) his government signed a controversial security pact with China "with our ...

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Agreement will exacerbate western fears over Beijing's growing influence in South Pacific.

China said on Tuesday it had signed a security pact with the Solomon Islands, a move set to heighten the concerns of the United States and allies Australia ...

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Douglas Ete, chairman of parliament's public accounts committee, had told fellow lawmakers that Chinese officials would arrive in mid-May to sign cooperation pacts. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com A separate leaked draft of a security pact included provisions for Chinese police to protect companies and infrastructure, and for Chinese naval vessels to replenish in Honiara. Australian officials said China appeared to want to pre-empt the arrival of the U.S. delegation in Honiara, which the White House said would discuss concerns about China, as well as the reopening of a U.S. embassy.

Solomon Islands' decision to sign a security pact with China will not hurt or undermine peace and harmony in the region, Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare ...

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Sogavare told parliament the agreement with Beijing was necessary to deal with the Solomon Islands's “internal security situation”. The Pacific island nation ...

“All the drivers of instability, insecurity and even threats to national unity in Solomon Islands are entirely internal,” the Solomon Star newspaper quoted Wale as saying on Wednesday. “This means that the deal, in giving opportunity to military posturing by China, has nothing to do with Solomon Islands national security. China is already the Solomon Islands’ top export destination, buying some 65 per cent of Honiara’s exports in 2019, followed by Italy at 9 percent. I doubt that the provision for this in the deal is inadvertent, rather it is calculated for geopolitical effect. He is invested in China & China invested in him. The United States and New Zealand have also expressed concern amid worries it could lead to China setting up a military outpost in the Pacific. “It is another difficult step for Australia in reassessing its future in a China dominated region,” Harrison said. A contingent of Australian police helped restore stability following a request from the government. On the part of Prime Minister Sogavare this is mercenary, on the part of China it is an opportunity too good to miss.” Foreign Minister Marise Payne, in a joint statement with Zed Seselja, Minister for International, Development and the Pacific, said while Australia respected the Honiara’s “right to make sovereign decisions” it was “deeply disappointed” with the China pact. While Sols sovereignty is respected, this has regional implications. “Australia completely misjudged the implications of China’s rise in the early 2010s, and the reassessment has been slow and equivocal, and still has a long way to go.” The Solomon Islands, with a population of less than 700,000, is a chain of hundreds of islands lying east of Papua New Guinea in the Pacific Ocean.

The Solomon Islands had rebuffed last ditch efforts by Australia - its biggest aid donor - to stop the deal. Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare said the pact would not "undermine peace and harmony" in the region. The ...

New Zealand's Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta, similarly said the country was "saddened" that the Solomon Islands had made the pact. A leaked draft of the agreement, which was verified by the Australian government, said Chinese warships would be permitted dock on the islands and that Beijing could send security forces "to assist in maintaining social order". Australia, New Zealand and the US have raised concerns on security in the Pacific, after China signed a security pact with the Solomon Islands.

The U.S. and Australian governments have voiced their concern at the signing of a new security agreement between China and the Solomon Islands, a diplomatic ...

SYDNEY — The leader of the Solomon Islands announced Wednesday that his country signed a security agreement with China, just days before a top American ...

The United States losing influence in the Solomon Islands could set off a “domino effect” in the region, he said. In his announcement Tuesday, Wang Wenbin, spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, sniped at the United States for “all of a sudden” planning to send senior officials to the region. Wale said he had warned Australia about the agreement last yearbut the country was slow to react — a claim Australian officials have denied. Concerns are particularly acute in Australia, which is about 1,000 miles from the Solomon Islands and has been the target of a Chinese trade war. “While such agreements will always be the right of any sovereign country to enter into, we have made clear to both Solomon Islands and China our grave concerns at the agreement’s potential to destabilize the Pacific region’s security.” “The Switch,” as the decision is known, underlined Beijing’s expanding influence in a region traditionally dominated by the United States and Australia. “We don’t want our own little Cuba off our coast,” he told reporters. The announcement came hours after the White House confirmed that Kurt Campbell, the National Security Council’s Indo-Pacific coordinator, would be visiting the Solomon Islands and two other countries in the region this week. “We have full understanding of the fragility of peace, and our duty as a state is to protect all people, their property and critical national infrastructures.” Anne-Marie Brady, a political scientist at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, said the agreement showed Australia and the United States needed to change their approaches to the region. Faced with an increasingly assertive Chinese military in the region, Australia struck a pact with the United States and the United Kingdom in September to obtain nuclear-powered submarines. “New Zealand has a long-term security partnership with Solomon Islands, and I am saddened that Solomon Islands has chosen nonetheless to pursue a security agreement outside the region,” she said in a statement.

A secret agreement that expands Chinese influence over Solomon Islands has now been signed. How did it come about, and what does it mean for the region?

“From a Solomon Islander point of view, the concern is very much about sovereignty being undermined,” said Batley, “and potentially their country being a focus of much greater geostrategic competition. And I personally do not think a naval base will be built anywhere in the country.” “The text looks like it was drafted in Beijing and presented to Solomon Islands,” he said. For Australia, it’s potentially a strategic nightmare, but it’s equally … of concern to other Pacific Islands as well for the same reason.” I think the language that is used is very much in China’s interest and not in Solomon Islands’ interest. James Batley, the former Australian high commissioner to Solomon Islands, says the secrecy around the deal was to be expected. Matthew Wale, the leader of the Solomon Islands opposition, says he first learned of the proposed deal in mid-2021 from a source. Opposition leader Wale and officials did not discuss a possible security agreement with China during this meeting or any other.” But Wale claims that Australia should not have been shocked by the news when it leaked. It was sign of just how closely guarded the deal was that news only emerged publicly seven months after the first rumours began. The news set off shockwaves that were felt in Canberra, Wellington and Washington. And if Australia’s gravest fears were realised, such an agreement could also allow China to establish a military base less than 2,000km from its eastern border.

Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare said Wednesday his government signed a controversial security pact with China "with our eyes open" but ...

A bilateral security deal with Australia was signed in 2017, and came into force the following year. The security pact was signed in the wake of violent protests which gripped the Solomon Islands capital Honiara last November, and led to much of the city's Chinatown being burned to the ground. Sogavare told parliament it was an "honour and privilege" to announce that the deal had been signed by officials in Honiara and Beijing "a few days ago".

There may not be a direct link between climate policy and the agreement, but it has contributed to the dimming of Australia's reputation in region.

These are all good things and important contributions Australia has made to the Pacific. But there is one area in which Australia consistently falls down as a partner: climate change, which Pacific leaders have repeatedly said is the gravest security threat it faces. As though this is up to Australia.” But there is something Australia can do to bolster security in the Pacific and to firm up its position as a trusted partner there: listen to its neighbours and act on the climate crisis. Incidentally, this view may be news to some Pacific leaders, many of whom had their last in-person meeting with him at the Pacific Islands Forum in Tuvalu in 2019. Labor is arguing there is more that Morrison could have done to prevent Solomon Islands from signing this deal with China, and we’ll never truly know if they’re right. Before the rounds of morning radio and television were done, it was clear that Labor was determined that the Solomons-China deal would be the issue of the day.

Its prime minister, Manasseh Sogavare, told parliament in the capital, Honiara, that under the agreement China will not build a military base in the island ...

Chinese warships would also be permitted dock on the islands. However, the United States, Japan, New Zealand and Australia have expressed concern. The prime minister of the Solomon Islands, Manasseh Sogavare, has told parliament that a wide-ranging security pact it has signed with China will not undermine peace and stability in the region.

An archipelago in the South Pacific is becoming the newest scene of tensions between China and the United States.

“China is a power that is here to stay, at least in the foreseeable future, and has disrupted Western countries’ dominance of the region.” He added that the Solomon Islands entered the deal with “eyes wide open.” “Beijing unilaterally announced the signing just ahead of the U.S. delegation’s visit to Solomon Islands,” he tells TIME. “I think that is not a coincidence.” Canberra, which has a bilateral security agreement with the country, said earlier that it would continue to cooperate with the Solomon Islands, even if the pact with China was signed. In 2019, the Solomon Islands switched diplomatic recognition to China from Taiwan, which China considers a breakaway province. Speaking on Wednesday, Sogavare said the agreement was necessary to cover “critical security gaps” and improve the ability of the authorities to deal with future instability. Meg Keen, a professor at Australian National University (ANU), says that Pacific island countries see security and development issues as intertwined. Since then, China has been boosting economic ties, involving the Solomons in its signature Belt and Road infrastructure initiative, and promising to build a multi-million dollar stadium in the country ahead of the Pacific Games next year. Led by assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs Daniel Kritenbrink, and the National Security Council’s (NSC) Indo-Pacific coordinator Kurt Campbell, the delegation had hoped to make the case that the U.S. could “deliver prosperity, security, and peace across the Pacific Islands and the Indo-Pacific.” Concern is now mounting that the newly signed pact will give Beijing a foothold in the region. The U.S. closed its embassy in the Solomons capital Honiara 29 years ago, but in February this year pledged to reopen it. New Zealand’s leader Jacinda Ardern echoed the sentiment.

WASHINGTON/SYDNEY -- China's new security pact with the Solomon Islands has fueled concerns over its long-term plans in the South Pacific as.

WASHINGTON/SYDNEY -- China's new security pact with the Solomon Islands has fueled concerns over its long-term plans in the South Pacific as Beijing competes with the U.S. for influence over strategically located island nations in the region. WASHINGTON/SYDNEY -- China's new security pact with the Solomon Islands has fueled concerns over its long-term plans in the South Pacific as Beijing competes with the U.S. for influence over strategically located island nations in the region.

The text of the agreement has not been made public. . Read more at straitstimes.com.

"Although Solomon Islands has said it will not allow (China) to build a military base, we still raise our concerns as part of our broader efforts to reinforce our longstanding ties with Solomon Islands," the State Department official said. "We are concerned by the lack of transparency and unspecified nature of this agreement, which follows a pattern of (China) offering shadowy, vague deals with little regional consultation in fishing, resource management, development assistance, and now security practices," a State Department official told AFP. WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States on Wednesday (April 20) criticised a new security pact between China and the Solomon Islands, describing it as shadowy.

Dispatching a junior minister to deal with the Solomon Islands-China agreement shows how little importance the PM gives this concerning development.

This is despite claiming he knew about it since August. It had given up without trying. Yes, he is Australia’s minister for the Pacific, and yes, Australia had just embarked on a federal election campaign, but this issue deserved so much more than a junior minister’s attention.

China has signed a security agreement with the Solomon Islands, a tiny state in the Pacific Ocean. The US and Australia are furious and worry that Beijing ...

France currently deploys 7,000 defense personnel, 15 warships and 38 aircraft in the Indo-Pacific area. The agreement adds that "China may ... make ship visits to ... Solomon Islands, and the relevant forces of China can be used to protect the safety of Chinese personnel and major projects on the Solomon Islands." According to Article 1 of the agreement, Solomon Islands "may request China to send police, armed police, military personnel and other law enforcement and armed forces to assist in maintaining social order." The draft security cooperation agreement between China and Solomon Islands has been linked on social media and raises a lot of questions (and concerns). (photos of agreement in this and below tweet) 1/6— Dr Anna Powles (@AnnaPowles) pic.twitter.com/nnpnJJQC7r March 24, 2022 Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare was defiant Wednesday about his decision to sign the security pact with China in the face of lobbying from the United States and Australia. The deal, announced Tuesday by Beijing, has faced sharp criticism from the United States and Australia, which fear the pact could lead to China gaining a military foothold in the South Pacific.

Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare told parliament on Wednesday that the agreement with China was to help with the country's “internal security ...

Analysts say a presence of Chinese troops in the Solomon Islands could raise the risk of confrontation between China and the U.S. and its allies, as well as challenge the U.S.-led vision of a “Free and Open Indo-Pacific.” Capie said that the agreement “would allow the People’s Republic of China to deploy police and military personnel to Solomon Islands with the consent of the host government, and potentially provide for refueling and support of Chinese ships.” Earlier this week, U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said that the U.S. was concerned that the agreement “leaves the door open for the deployment of Chinese forces on the Solomon Islands.” “China is always a builder of peace and a promoter of stability in the South Pacific region,” Wang said. One of the clauses says: “China may, according to its own needs and with the consent of Solomon Islands, make ship visits to, carry out logistical replenishment in, and have stopover and transition in Solomon Islands.” China has maintained that Pacific island countries need to diversify their cooperation with other countries and “have the right to independently choose their cooperation partners.” “Several senior U.S. officials now fancy a visit to some Pacific island countries all of a sudden after all these years,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry’s Wang Wenbin, pointing out that the U.S. Embassy in Solomon Islands has been closed for 29 years. Campbell said in January that the U.S. has “enormous moral, strategic, historical interests” in the Pacific but had not done enough to assist the region. The U.S. also expressed concern over “the lack of transparency” in China’s security pact with the Solomon Islands, calling it part of a pattern of Beijing offering “shadowy” deals to countries, Reuters news agency reported. In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told reporters that Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Solomon Islands counterpart, Jeremiah Manele, officially signed the document “the other day.” Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare told parliament on Wednesday that the agreement with China was to help with the country’s “internal security situation,” referring to recent unrest that saw businesses and buildings burned and looted. The prime minister said the decision “will not adversely impact or undermine the peace and harmony of our region.”

'Australia is deeply disappointed by the signing of a security cooperation agreement between Solomon Islands and China,' Marise Payne says.

Wang told a press conference the security deal was a ‘normal’ exchange typical of two sovereign and independent countries. Observers said the discontent among locals highlighted the fragility of nationhood in Solomon Islands. “[The agreement] is based on respecting the will and actual need of Solomon Islands,” Wang said, alluding to building the capacity of the Solomon Islands to manage its own security issues.

Former Solomon Islands prime minister Danny Philip staunchly defends his country's secret pact with Beijing, saying the government does not need to seek ...

"So that gives rise to other considerations in the mind of the Solomon Islands government to get the Chinese police to come in to train our own police." Australian officials have furiously denied that assertion in the past, pointing out that Australian police and ADF personnel had been sent to the Solomons as part of a broader regional security force under the command of the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force. According to a draft of the deal leaked last month, Beijing would be able to send military forces to Solomon Islands to protect Chinese-built infrastructure, as well as "make ship visits, carry out logistical replenishment in and have stopover and transition in Solomon Islands".