HONIARA (CU)_Over the past few months, the Solomon Island has been looking to strengthen its military cooperation with China, sparking concern in neighboring Australia which has been in constant dispute with the communist super power. Last week, a draft security document between Beijing and Honiara was leaked online, which left Australia, as well as fellow pacific island New Zealand, anxious.
Speaking to Channel Nine of Friday, Australian Defence Minister Peter Dutton noted that Canberra does not want “unsettling influences” in the region, while New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta admitted that an agreement between China and the Solomon Islands would be “very concerning” if true. “We want peace and stability in the region. We don’t want unsettling influences and we don’t want pressure and coercion that we are seeing from China continuing to roll out in the region,” Minister Dutton said.
However, these claims that the Solomon Islands was been pressured by Beijing was denied by the Islands’ Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare who revealed that the security agreement is now “ready for signing”. In his address to Parliament on Tuesday, the leader of the island nation said there was “no intention whatsoever” to ask Beijing to build a military base in the country, but offered little detail on the final deal beyond.
He went on to dismiss reports in Australian media that Honiara was being “pressured by the People’s Republic of China to build a military base in Solomon Islands”. “Where does that nonsense come from? The security treaty… is pursued at the request of the Solomon Islands’ government,” the Prime Minister said. “We are not pressured. We are not pressured in any way by our new friends.”
When inquired about the status of the agreement PM Sogavare said: “We will finalise and finish now”, adding that “The document is ready for signing.”
