China said it has signed a security agreement with the Solomon Islands, which had faced pressure from nearby Australia and the US to reject the deal.
Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) and Solomon Islands Minister of Foreign Affairs Jeremiah Manele “officially signed an intergovernmental framework agreement on security cooperation the other day,” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Wang Wenbin (汪文斌) said yesterday at a regular news briefing in Beijing.
“The two sides will conduct cooperation, including maintenance of social order, protection and safety of people’s lives and property, humanitarian assistance and natural disaster response, to help the Solomon Islands strengthen capacity-building and safeguard its own security,” Wang Wenbin said.
Photo: AP
US National Security Council Indo-Pacific Affairs Coordinator Kurt Campbell plans to lead a delegation of US officials to the South Pacific nation in the coming days, a White House statement said.
The tour is to include Hawaii, Fiji and Papua New Guinea.
“The delegation will meet with senior government officials to ensure our partnerships deliver prosperity, security and peace across the Pacific Islands and the Indo-Pacific [region],” the statement said.
Earlier this month, Australian Minister for International Development and the Pacific Zed Seselja made an unusual mid-election campaign trip to the Solomon Islands, where he publicly asked the Pacific nation’s leadership to “consider” not signing the security pact with Beijing.
The flurry of diplomacy was sparked by the leaking of a draft agreement late last month between the Chinese government and the Solomon Islands that allowed the deployment of China’s security forces in the case of domestic unrest.
The agreement also facilitates a safe harbor for Chinese naval vessels just 2,000km from the Australian coastline.
Speaking to Australian Broadcasting Corp on Sunday, Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Marise Payne said the government was concerned about a “lack of transparency” in the security agreement.
However, Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare has said that the pact would not allow China to construct a military base and has strongly asserted his country’s right to an independent foreign policy.
STILL COMMITTED: The US opposes any forced change to the ‘status quo’ in the Strait, but also does not seek conflict, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said US President Donald Trump’s administration released US$5.3 billion in previously frozen foreign aid, including US$870 million in security exemptions for programs in Taiwan, a list of exemptions reviewed by Reuters showed. Trump ordered a 90-day pause on foreign aid shortly after taking office on Jan. 20, halting funding for everything from programs that fight starvation and deadly diseases to providing shelters for millions of displaced people across the globe. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has said that all foreign assistance must align with Trump’s “America First” priorities, issued waivers late last month on military aid to Israel and Egypt, the
France’s nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and accompanying warships were in the Philippines yesterday after holding combat drills with Philippine forces in the disputed South China Sea in a show of firepower that would likely antagonize China. The Charles de Gaulle on Friday docked at Subic Bay, a former US naval base northwest of Manila, for a break after more than two months of deployment in the Indo-Pacific region. The French carrier engaged with security allies for contingency readiness and to promote regional security, including with Philippine forces, navy ships and fighter jets. They held anti-submarine warfare drills and aerial combat training on Friday in
COMBAT READINESS: The military is reviewing weaponry, personnel resources, and mobilization and recovery forces to adjust defense strategies, the defense minister said The military has released a photograph of Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) appearing to sit beside a US general during the annual Han Kuang military exercises on Friday last week in a historic first. In the photo, Koo, who was presiding over the drills with high-level officers, appears to be sitting next to US Marine Corps Major General Jay Bargeron, the director of strategic planning and policy of the US Indo-Pacific Command, although only Bargeron’s name tag is visible in the seat as “J5 Maj General.” It is the first time the military has released a photo of an active
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
RSS