Defiant Solomon Islands PM says deal with China is ‘ready to sign’

Singapore: Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare said a security deal with China was ready to be signed and accused the West of sowing instability in a defiant speech to Parliament.

In a rebuke to days of lobbying by Canberra and Wellington, Sogavare described Australia and New Zealand’s warnings as “nonsense” and said the Solomons had “no intention of pitching into any geopolitical struggle”. The deal will make his country Beijing’s top partner in the Pacific.

Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in Beijing in October 2019.Credit:AP

“Various geopolitical ideologies are creating all this hatred of countries that do not share our political ideologies,” he said. “The time has come for nation-states to face the realities about all the nonsense we are made to believe.”

Sogavare told Parliament in Honiara on Tuesday that China was not a security threat to the region. “The document is ready for signing,” he said. China has militarised three islands in the disputed South China Sea and flown hundreds of warplanes towards Taiwan’s airspace over the past year.

He offered few new details about the final form of the agreement after a draft leaked last week sparked fears that China would be given the power to base its warships in the region, less than 2000 kilometres off the coast of Australia.

For the first time, Sogavare explicitly linked Chinese infrastructure investment proposals to the Solomon Islands’ national security and suggested Beijing would be given the right to protect its investments.

“Lack of development, especially in major infrastructure in our provinces continues to plague us. Lack of development leads to security issues,” he said. “That affects our national security.”

Chinese investment in infrastructure projects was one of the key reasons for civil unrest in the Solomons in November after MPs were allegedly offered hundreds of thousands of dollars by China in return for their support. The infrastructure investment flowed after the Solomons switched its diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to China in 2019.

Sogavare said there was “no intention to ask China to build a military base in the Solomon Islands”. But the draft agreement revealed on Thursday opened the door to Solomons requesting Chinese military assistance and for Chinese naval ships to have “logistical replenishment in and have stopover and transition in the Solomon Islands”.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, left, and Solomon Islands PM Manasseh Sogavare review an honour guard during a welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing in 2019.Credit:AP

The Solomons have been attempting to leverage the proposed agreement with China against deals with Australia and New Zealand to maximise both security and economic investment.

The Solomons’ leader thanked Australia for its offer to build a patrol boat base in the country’s east, raising the prospect of Australian and Chinese ships coming into contact while on duty.

“We should see opportunity in diversification for the good of the nation,” said Sogavare. “We have received so much from Australia, and we are grateful always. But as a sovereign nation, we need to continue to plan and develop, and we hope that all partners can work together with us.

“The needs are so great and there is sufficient space for everyone,” he said.

The speech and the imminent signing of the deal followed repeated pleas from Australia and New Zealand for the Solomons not to proceed with the agreement. On Monday Prime Minister Scott Morrison lobbied Papua New Guinea and Fiji to urge the Solomons not to sign the deal, arguing the three countries had effectively restored order following protests in November.

“This is an issue of concern for the region, but it has not come as a surprise,” Morrison said. “We have been long aware of these pressures”

New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern warned against “the militarisation of the region”.

“We see very little reason in terms of the Pacific’s security for such a need and such a presence.”

The Solomons are in a key shipping lane that connects Australia and New Zealand to Asia and the Pacific.

But those appeals appear to have fallen on deaf ears in Honiara as China becomes more assertive across the Pacific, including in Australia’s closest neighbour Papua New Guinea.

Australia’s former ambassador to Papua New Guinea and a Lowy Institute senior fellow Ian Kemish said Australia had to be alert to China’s intentions in PNG. “We cannot be sanguine about it,” he said.

Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for the weekly What in the World newsletter here.

Most Viewed in World

From our partners

Source: Read Full Article

Previous post Dating can be torture for cagey Cancer but plays for keeps when it comes to love
Next post UConn reaches 14th straight Final Four, tops NC State in 20T