Last month, a preliminary version of the agreement had leaked, causing Canberra and Washington’s concern.
Le Monde with AFP and Reuters
China announced, Tuesday, April 19, having signed with the Solomon Islands a vast security agreement, at the moment when several Western countries, United States in mind, lend themselves to Beijing military ambitions in the Pacific. The agreement was signed by the Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs, Wang Yi, and his counterpart of the Solomon Islands, Jeremiah Manele. No details were given on the exact location or date of the signature.
The China Embassy and Solomon Islands officials had previously signed a letter of intent providing for the sending of Chinese police and military, as needed, to protect infrastructure and social order, but the Agreement had not been ratified by governments.
In March, a preliminary version of the agreement had leaked. The document had then caused a shock wave, as it included proposals that authorize Chinese security and naval deployments in the Pacific archipelago.
The Solomon Islands were shaken at the end of 2021 by deadly riots fueled by the resentment of part of the population against the growing influence of China. Businesses held by Chinese had been vandalized and burned in Honiara, the capital of this South Pacific archipelago.
China had been one of the actors in the region to deploy peacekeeping forces to the Solomon Islands at the request of the government. Beijing, who had sent police instructors and ourselves, was looking since to strengthen his protection device on the island.
It is a “normal cooperation between two sovereign and independent countries”, defended a spokesman for Chinese diplomacy, Wang Wenbin. The agreement will support “long-term stability” Solomon Islands, has it argued.
An American delegation expected in Honiara
In early April, the Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavar, had assured that he would not allow the construction of a Chinese military base in his country, but it did not suffice to appease the fears of the Australia and its allies. Australia, Great neighbor of Solomon, is located 1,500 kilometers from the archipelago.
Canberra and Washington have been worried for a long time of the possibility that China builds a naval base in the South Pacific, which would allow it to project its maritime power well beyond its borders.
In recent weeks, Australia and the United States has increased diplomatic efforts to dissuade Solomon Islands to get closer to Beijing. “We believe that the signing of such an agreement could increase destabilization within the Solomon Islands and to create a disturbing precedent for the Pacific Islands region as a whole,” said the spokesman for diplomacy on Monday. American, Ned Price.
In the wake, the United States announced the sending of a high-level diplomatic delegation for a tour in the Pacific, with Solomon as a priority to counter Beijing’s ambitions. Last week already, the Minister of International Development and the Australian Pacific, Zed Seselja, had been dispatched to Honiara for an unusual meeting with the Prime Minister of the Archipelago.
Historical Rivalry
In November, riots had shook three days during this country of 800,000 inhabitants. The causes of these violence were multiple. In addition to anger vis-à-vis the government and the economic difficulties aggravated by the pandemic was the historical rivalry between the inhabitants of the most populous island of the country, Malaita, and those of Guadalcanal, where is the administrative capital of the country .
But he was also criticized at Prime Minister, Mr. Sogavare, to forge closer ties with Beijing after suddenly broke in 2019 long-standing relationships with Taiwan. China opposes any diplomatic recognition of Taiwan, which it considers as part of its own territory. The communist power of Beijing makes it a prerequisite for the establishment of diplomatic relations with other countries.
At the time Washington seeks to strengthen its presence in the region to counter Chinese influence, the United States had announced in February to reopen an embassy in the Solomon Islands, after twenty-nine years of closure.