CANBERRA (CU)_Over the recent days Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been busy defending Canberra’s engagement in the South Pacific, amid a controversial security pact between the Solomon Islands and China, which was officially signed on Tuesday (19 April). Many political leaders and diplomats have expressed their concern that the agreement could open the door for the Chinese Communist Party to station troops in the Pacific archipelago.
The opposition labour party has heavily criticised the government’s handling of the matter, describing it as “the greatest Australian foreign policy blunder since World War II”. However, PM Morrison is insisting that it was only respecting the sovereignty of the Solomon Islands and has now revealed that another Pacific nation is facing “similar” pressure from Beijing to consent to a security deal.
Commenting on the matter, the Prime Minister said: “[We] made very clear that Australia was not looking to go and stamp around, that we were going to deal with it constructively and respectfully.” “We keep reenforcing to all our Pacific family that will always be there for you in your interests and that is what we believe will ultimately prevail,” he told reporters on Wednesday. “Do you think there’s not the same pressure going on in Papua New Guinea that there is in the Solomon Islands? Of course, there is. That is happening in all of those countries.”
China has previously expressed its interest in Bougainville, an autonomous region in Papua New Guinea. Beijing has reportedly offered infrastructure investment worth US$1 billion under its Belt and Road Initiative in return.
While countries like Australia, New Zealand and the US have expressed their concern that the security pact between Beijing and Honiara could lead to gradual militarisation of the region akin to the South China Sea, provincial leaders and the national opposition in the Solomons have also criticised the deal. “All the drivers of instability, insecurity and even threats to national unity in Solomon Islands are entirely internal,” opposition leader Matthew Wale said in a statement.
