The Solomon Islands signed a security treaty with China with “eyes wide open,” the Pacific nation’s prime minister said on Wednesday, despite strong opposition from the United States and Australia.
Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare described it as a “honour and privilege” to inform parliament that the agreement had been signed “a few days ago” by officials in Honiara and Beijing.
The agreement, announced by Beijing on Tuesday, has sparked outrage in the United States and Australia, which are concerned that it will allow China to establish a military presence in the South Pacific.
Mr. Sogavare stated that his government signed the agreement “with our eyes wide open,” but he did not specify when the signed version would be made public.
The agreement, announced by Beijing on Tuesday, has sparked outrage in the United States and Australia, which many fear will lead to China gaining a military foothold in the South Pacific.
The draft’s broad language prompted a flurry of diplomatic efforts from Washington and Canberra to prevent it from being signed, including a last-ditch visit by Australia’s Pacific minister, but they were ultimately unsuccessful.
In September 2019, Mr Sogavare’s government severed ties with Taiwan, only days before its Pacific neighbor Kiribati did the same.
As news of the arrangement leaked during a hotly fought federal election campaign, Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison was bombarded with questions regarding his management of the Solomon Islands.
Mr. Morrison said he would visit the Pacific island “at the first opportunity,” but dismissed suggestions that he or Foreign Minister Marise Payne should have personally lobbied against the transaction in the Solomon Islands.
Mr Morrison stated that Australia must accept regional neighbors’ decisions and that he has “spent countless hours in talks with Pacific Island leaders.”
Mr Sogavare has previously said there was “no intention whatsoever … to ask China to build a military base in the Solomon Islands”.
The deal was signed just days before senior US National Security Council official Kurt Campbell is due to arrive in the Pacific nation for high-level talks.
The US has promised to reopen its embassy in the Solomon Islands, which has been closed since 1993.
Mihai Sora from the Sydney-based Lowy Institute think tank said it was “almost certain the deal was rushed through” before Mr Campbell’s visit.
He said there was very little that Australia could have done to stop the deal, given it was “personal for Sogavare”.
But, Mr Sora added: “I think he is honest when he says he doesn’t want a Chinese military base in the Pacific.”
Last November, protests against Mr Sogavare’s rule sparked violent riots in the Solomon Islands’ capital, during which the city’s Chinatown was torched.
While the unrest was partly fuelled by poverty, unemployment and inter-island rivalries, anti-China sentiment also played a role.
