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Daniel Tehan Photographer: Wei Leng Tay/BloombergSenior Australian government ministers have expressed concern about a draft security agreement between China and the Solomon Islands, which could give the Asian nation’s naval vessels a safe harbor approximately 2,000 kilometers (1,243 miles) from Australia’s mainland.
The ministers spoke out after a copy of the agreement was circulated on social media by a New Zealand academic on Thursday. The Australian Broadcasting Corp. said it had verified the document as authentic, but it is unclear how far along the negotiations are.
Speaking to the ABC on Thursday night, Trade Minister Dan Tehan said the government was trying to get more detail about the document and it was a “concerning development.” The government was worried the document could undermine the sovereignty of the Solomon Islands, he said.
Meanwhile, Defence Minister Peter Dutton emphasized the close relationship between Australia and the Solomons. “We would be concerned clearly about any military base being established and we would express that to the Solomon Islands government,” he told Channel Nine on Friday.
According to the document, the Solomon Islands would be able to request the assistance of Chinese military personnel in the case of disaster or political unrest, while Beijing would be able to “make ship visits to, carry out logistical replenishment in, and have stopover in” the Solomon Islands.
Bloomberg could not independently verify the authenticity of the document.
A spokesman for Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said Pacific Island nations have “the right to make sovereign decisions.” Still, “we would be concerned by any actions that destabilize the security of our region,” the spokesman said in a statement.
Building PresenceChina has been growing its Pacific presence in the past decade, part of its global outreach to developing nations to build economic and security ties.
The Solomon Islands government under Prime Minister Mannesseh Sogavare has strengthened ties with Beijing in recent years, including a contentious decision to switch the country’s diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in September 2019. The change in foreign policy has been one of the factors in growing domestic unrest between Sogavare’s government and the province of Malaita, which led to riots in 2021.
Shortly after news of the proposed security deal was made public, Australia’s High Commissioner to the Solomon Islands Lachie Strahan announced the peace keeping force deployed after the riots would remain in the country until December 2023, in addition to a number of additional measures.
