A leaked document indicates that China could boost its military presence in the Solomon Islands — including with ship visits — in a development that is raising alarm in nearby Australia and beyond.
The Solomon Islands revealed on Thursday that it had signed a policing cooperation agreement with China, but more concerning to Australia was the draft text of a broader security arrangement that was leaked online.
Under the terms of the draft agreement, China could send police, military personnel and other armed forces to the Solomon Islands “to assist in maintaining social order” and for a variety of other reasons. It could also send ships to the islands for stopovers and to replenish supplies.
Photo: AP
The draft agreement stipulates that China would need to sign off on any information that is released about joint security arrangements, including at news conferences.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he had not spoken to his Solomon Islands counterpart in the 24 hours since news of the security deal with China was made public, but talks were being held with Honiara.
“We will see how this progresses,” Morrison told reporters, adding that Australia and New Zealand were part of the “Pacific family.”
“There are others who may seek to pretend to influence and may seek to get some sort of hold in the region, and we are very conscious of that,” he said.
New Zealand said it is planning to raise its concerns about the document with the Solomon Islands and China.
“If genuine, this agreement would be very concerning,” New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs Nanaia Mahuta said. “Such agreements will always be the right of any sovereign country to enter into. However, developments within this purported agreement could destabilize the current institutions and arrangements that have long underpinned the Pacific region’s security.”
Anna Powles, a senior lecturer in international security at New Zealand’s Massey University, said that Australia, New Zealand and the US would be “very concerned” about the draft agreement, which was ambitious on China’s part.
Powles said it would be interesting to know what kind of goods China might want to send to the Solomon Islands to service its ships, and whether there was the potential for mission creep in the future, such as China developing a naval base.
She said she was concerned China was trying to direct the political narrative by controlling what information could be publicly released.
A lot of the wording in the draft agreement was vague, including exactly what type of military and paramilitary forces China might send to the Solomon Islands, Powles said, adding that it was either clumsily worded or deliberately opaque.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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