Through COVID, tropical cyclones and volcanic eruptions, Australia has shown we will stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our Pacific family, through good times ...
Last year, Australia spent a record $1.7 billion in development assistance and will continue responding to our Pacific partners’ priorities such as climate change, COVID-19 recovery and economic and security challenges. We have regularly and respectfully raised our concerns with the Solomon Islands Government and will continue to do so. When members of the Pacific family work together, we can respond to the security challenges in our region.
Australia and New Zealand expressed concern on Friday over a leaked draft document outlining proposed military cooperation between China and the Solomon ...
The Solomon Islands has signed a policing deal with China and will send a proposal for a broader security agreement covering the military to its cabinet for consideration, a Solomon Islands official told Reuters on Thursday. In its first comments on the matter, the Solomon Islands government confirmed it was “diversifying the country’s security partnership including with China,” and would sign off on a number of agreements with Beijing “to further create a secure and safe environment for local and foreign investments.” A security agreement with Australia, signed in 2017, would be preserved as Solomon Islands deepened relations with China, it said.
One Asia-Pacific security observer says Australia, New Zealand and the U.S. would all be "very concerned" about the draft agreement.
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The Solomon Islands is seeking to expand its security relationship with China, its government confirmed on Friday, after reports that such an agreement was ...
Australia must figure out how to respond to an increasingly crowded Pacific, without increasing tensions in the region.
But an increased security presence of a country like China in the Pacific further escalates the geopolitical competition in the region. The potentially zero-sum nature of great power rivalry in the Pacific does not sufficiently address the prosperity needs of individual Pacific countries and can undermine their security and stability, particularly those with a recent history of internal conflict such as Solomon Islands. The scope of the agreement allows China to provide security assistance to major projects. It would also cause concern among other Pacific nations, not just Australia. A document that could over-accommodate the reach of China’s security apparatus into Solomon Islands would be politically damaging for prime minister Sogavare, who would expose himself to accusations of elite capture in the context of the recent riots. The leaked document is an early draft and Solomon Islands would no doubt seek to narrow the terms of the agreement, walking back some of the commitments that China has proposed. Solomon Islands’ increasingly close ties with China since the switch of diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in 2019 remains a highly sensitive issue domestically.
The Pacific island nation on Friday said it was expanding ties with China to combat security threats and ensure a safe environment for investment as it ...
The Solomons has already signed a policing deal with China. On Thursday, a Solomon Islands official told Reuters a security deal with China covering the military would be sent to its cabinet for consideration. The Pacific island nation on Friday said it was expanding ties with China to combat security threats and ensure a safe environment for investment as it diversifies security relations.
The U.S. and Australia seek to shore up relations as a proposed security agreement between Beijing and the island nation could have far-reaching ...
- Saks Fifth Avenue:$20 off sitewide + free shipping - Saks Fifth Avenue coupon You may cancel your subscription at anytime by calling Customer Service. Behind the scenes, however, Solomon Islands officials were courting another big power: China.
Analysts say unratified document which would allow China to base ships in the Pacific is a 'wish list' which reveals nation's intent in 'black and white'
We need to make sure that we engage with the region.” “We have had the Pacific step-up in terms of rhetoric. “When this government came to office and withdrew funding, in terms of its aid and its presence in the Pacific, that was an error of judgment,” he said. In a statement released on Friday, the Solomon Islands’ government seemed to seek to reassure Australia, emphasising that “Solomon Islands values its 2017 Security Agreement with Australia” calling it the Pacific country’s “first Security Agreement”. “We share with our Pacific family values, we share culture, the principles of democracy and freedom, and these are things that are very important to the Pacific Island peoples.” While the document still needs to go through the Pacific nation’s cabinet, the Solomon Islands government confirmed on Friday it was seeking to “broaden its security and development cooperation with more countries”, referring to Australia and China as its “two major partners”.
BEIJING (Reuters) - China backs the Solomon Islands in upholding social order, a foreign ministry spokesman told reporters on Friday, when asked if th...
The U.S. and Australia seek to shore up relations as a proposed security agreement between Beijing and the island nation could have far-reaching ...
- Saks Fifth Avenue:$20 off sitewide + free shipping - Saks Fifth Avenue coupon You may cancel your subscription at anytime by calling Customer Service. Behind the scenes, however, Solomon Islands officials were courting another big power: China.
Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with Solomon Islands' Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, October 9, 2019. Hong ...
They will be watched from (the) Solomons." "We want peace and stability in the region. "That is our backyard, that is our neighborhood, and we are very concerned about any activity that is taking place in the Pacific Islands. Our Pacific Island friends know that we are there to support them," she said. CNN could not independently verify the authenticity of these documents. The statement also says that the Solomon Islands is working to "sign off and implement" arrangements with China, in the areas of civil aviation, trade, and education, including sending more students to China to study abroad. The Solomon Islands government noted that agreement in their statement Friday, saying it will "continue to preserve its Security Agreement with Australia as it develops and deepen its relations with all partners including with China."
The Pacific island nation on Friday said it was expanding ties with China to combat security threats and ensure a safe environment for investment as it ...
The Solomons has already signed a policing deal with China. By clicking submit, you are agreeing to our Terms and Conditions & Privacy Policy. On Thursday, a Solomon Islands official told Reuters a security deal with China covering the military would be sent to its cabinet for consideration. Australia has previously expressed concern about the impact on regional security of military cooperation between China and Solomon Islands after a draft document outlining the proposed cooperation was leaked this week. (Reuters) - Australia Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Saturday there was "great concern" across the Pacific after Solomon Islands confirmed it was creating a security partnership with China. The Pacific island nation on Friday said it was expanding ties with China to combat security threats and ensure a safe environment for investment as it diversifies security relations.
The Solomons' government of Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare switched the country's diplomatic ties from Taiwan to China in 2019. Honiara and Beijing have since ...
Australia has a long record of imperialist interventions and “regime change” operations in the region. In Australia, the Labor Party has led the chorus of opposition to the Solomons-China deal. It concluded, in the style of a mafia don, “Our advice to the Solomons and other smaller nations is to think twice before getting in bed with Beijing or Moscow.” Canberra will no doubt do everything it can to sabotage the Solomons-China military agreement before it is finalised, including by working to destabilise and remove the Sogavare government. If it must, the nation should invade and capture Guadalcanal such that we engineer regime change in Honiara.” As far as Washington and its ally Canberra are concerned, however, the South Pacific has been its “patch” since 1945 and must remain so. In a statement issued yesterday, the Sogavare government confirmed the authenticity of the leaked document, stating: “Solomon Islands is working to broaden its security and development cooperation with more countries. Any Pacific government that fails to abide by this is immediately targeted. After that failed, they spent three days looting and burning shops, schools, and police buildings in the city. When this development was first mooted last December, an Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reporter stated that in Canberra “privately officials are fuming.” The Solomon Islands and China have nevertheless proceeded, and on March 18 signed a memorandum of understanding on police cooperation. Suidani and his supporters have been financed and politically supported by Washington since 2019. The prospect of a Solomons-China military agreement has exposed the “democratic” and “humanitarian” façade of US and Australian imperialist policy in the South Pacific.