China confirms security pact with Solomon Islands signed

By Islamuddin Sajid and Riyaz ul Khaliq

ANKARA / ISTANBUL (AA) – China on Thursday confirmed it has signed a bilateral security pact with Solomon Islands, state-run media said.

“China and the Solomon lslands signed the bilateral security cooperation framework agreement on Wednesday,” Global Times quoted Wang Wenbin, a spokesperson of China’s Foreign Ministry, as saying.

The pact, which has triggered angry responses from the US, Australia, as well as New Zealand, “focuses on social security, safeguarding people’s lives and properties, humanitarian aids and other fields."

“The cooperation does not target a third party. Pacific countries are a big stage of international cooperation, not some certain countries’ ‘backyard’ nor a venue of the competition of great powers,” Wang said.

Solomon Islands also confirmed the arrangement in a joint statement issued by foreign and national security ministers, Jeremiah Manele and Anthony Veke, respectively.

"Solomon Islands reiterate that the Framework of Cooperation is to respond to ... soft and hard domestic threats. Solomon Islands continue to roll out the implementation of its National Security Strategy and uphold its Foreign Policy of 'Friends to all and enemies to none,'” the statement read.

They added that Solomon Islands seeks greater security partnership with other partners and neighbors and praised Australia, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand and Fiji for the presence of their security personnel in their country.

Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare has dismissed foreign criticism over the agreement as “insulting.”

“We find it insulting to be branded as unfit to manage our sovereign affairs, and that we have other motives in pursuing our national interests,” Sogavare told the parliament on Tuesday.

He rejected media reports that the new deal “will serve as a doorway for China to establish a military base in the Solomon Islands."

- ‘Very, very serious’

Asked if Australia should be worried about the new relationship between China and the Solomon Islands, Prime Minister Scott Morrison, in an interview with Mike O'Loughlin of Tasmania Talks radio on Thursday, said “these are very, very serious issues.”

“Well, these are very, very serious issues, and they have changed a lot in just the last five years … the China we're dealing with today to be honest, they've been coercing, they've been bullying, they've been intimidating in our region. And I've been prepared to stand up to them,” he said.

“We are investing in our relationship with our partners in the Pacific, including in Solomon Islands.”

Last year, Australia signed the AUKUS security pact with the US and UK, which allows it to build nuclear-powered submarines, a deal China says will undermine regional peace and stability, and intensify the arms race.

It is also a part of the Washington-led Quad group, along with Japan and India, a bloc critics say is aimed at curbing China’s growing influence in the region.