The rumors started in August.
There has been chatter among Honiara’s political class that China and the Solomon Islands are negotiating a security agreement that could allow Beijing to send military and police personnel to its new Pacific ally and base naval ships on the islands.
If the rumors turn out to be true, it will be the first known bilateral security agreement between China and a country in the Pacific, a region that has recently become a center of geopolitical and strategic tug-of-war between China and the United States and Australia. years. And if Australia’s most serious fears come true, such an agreement could also allow China to establish a military base less than 2,000 km from its eastern border.
Matthew Weil, the leader of the Solomon Islands opposition, says he first learned of the proposed deal in mid-2021 from a source. He claims the deal was negotiated by a very small team of elected representatives trusted by Prime Minister Manashe Sogaware, but was kept secret from anyone outside this narrow circle, including the rest of Sogaware’s cabinet.
Anti-Covid supplies from China, which arrived in the Solomon Islands in February. The island nation is one of China’s newest political allies since 2019. Photo: Xinhua / REX / Shutterstock
“They were worried and raised the issue with me, and I was obviously extremely worried,” he said.
In March, these fears were justified when the draft text of the security agreement, which gave the Chinese military and police significant access to the Solomon Islands, had leaked online. The news sparked shockwaves in Canberra, Wellington and Washington.
According to diplomatic sources, politicians and analysts, the China-Solomon Security Pact was a shrouded deal that took diplomats and government officials – even from the Solomon Islands – by surprise, sparking a stir by Western powers to try to block Chinese influence in the region and outrage among the people of Solomon Islands.
In response to the leak, two delegations were sent from Australia to Honiara, and this week two senior US officials, including Kurt Campbell, coordinator of the National Security Council in the Indo-Pacific region, will land in the capital.
But hasty diplomatic initiatives have proved fruitless. Late Tuesday, China’s foreign ministry announced that the deal had been signed.
caught “unprepared”
A sign of how carefully the deal was guarded was that the news did not appear in public until seven months after the first rumors began. On March 24, Dr. Anna Pauls, a senior professor of security research at Massi University in New Zealand, posted a series of tweets featuring photos of the expired security agreement, triggering alarms across the region.
The draft agreement on security cooperation between China and the Solomon Islands is linked on social media and raises many questions (and concerns). (photos of consent in this and below tweet) 1/6 pic.twitter.com/nnpnJJQC7r
– Dr. Anna Pools (@AnnaPowles) March 24, 2022
“I really took it seriously whether or not to post it on Twitter,” Pauls said. “Given the secrecy surrounding the document and the content of the agreement, I was certainly pleased that a little light would be shed on it.
“This is a confirmation of what Canberra and Wellington have long suspected,” Pauls said.
But the deal was news to many, including key government officials in the Sogawara government.
The Guardian is aware of at least one high-ranking Solomon Island diplomat who learned of the deal from the Powles publication and rushed to get someone to contact him.
Christian Mesepitu, the governor of the western province, said the governors had not been consulted either. “Like many other residents of Solomon Islands, we were informed about the security agreement only on social media and we are really very concerned,” he told Solomon Business magazine.
In the days following the leak, New Zealand Secretary of Defense Piney Henare said he and Australian Defense Minister Peter Dutton had been caught “unprepared” by the draft agreement.
“We were both surprised because the intelligence we were receiving was not exactly that,” Henare told Stuff. “We knew there were some challenges for China, but the expired draft agreement … surprised me as much as it surprised even Dutton.
James Batley, the former Australian High Commissioner for the Solomon Islands, says secrecy over the deal was expected. “The Solomon Islands government would be aware of the reaction this would have in Australia, New Zealand, the United States, etc., so I think the idea would be: let’s finish this before it goes public.
“The idea that Solomon might be surprised by [the] The reactions of countries like Australia to this urge faith. People with a lot of experience work there. ”
But Well says Australia shouldn’t have been shocked by the news. He says he tried to raise concerns by telling Australia’s Solomon High Commissioner Lachi Strahan about the deal in August or September 2021. He said Strahan “took this into account and this is the last which I heard. “
Some experts doubt many negotiations between Honiara (pictured) and Beijing over the security agreement. Photo: Zahiyd Namo / The Guardian
The Australian Foreign Office disputes this, with a spokesman saying: “The Australian High Commissioner for Solomon Islands met with opposition leader Weil in May 2021, not August 2021. Opposition leader Weil and officials have not discussed a possible agreement on security with China during this meeting or any other. “
Announcing the signing of the deal in parliament, Sogaware said: “Let me assure people that we have entered into an agreement with China with wide open eyes, guided by our national interests.
But Batley doubts that many talks have actually taken place between Beijing and Honiara.
“The text seems to have been written in Beijing and presented in the Solomon Islands,” he said. “I think the initiative would come from Beijing. I don’t think the Solomon Islands went to China and said, “Please, can we have a security agreement?”
“Honestly, I don’t think there have been many negotiations about that. I think the language used is very much in China’s interest, not in the Solomon Islands. If the initiative came from the Solomon Islands, you would expect it to be modeled on agreements that already exist between the Solomon Islands and Australia and New Zealand.
Australia weekend
Chinese naval base?
Australia, New Zealand and the United States are particularly concerned that the deal could allow China to set up a military base just 2,000 km off Australia’s east coast, with the draft text allowing China to “visit ships, make logistical replenishments and have stop and crossing the Solomon Islands ”.
“This is the biggest concern of this deal for Australia,” Batley said. “This term ‘naval base’ means a wider range of strategic concerns. It’s a potential strategic nightmare for Australia, but it’s equally worrying for other Pacific islands for the same reason. “
Since the draft agreement expired, Sogaware has sought to allay fears by saying his country has no intention of allowing a Chinese naval base and is fiercely defending his country’s right to make its own foreign policy decisions, adding that it is “very insulting to condemn him as incompetent.” to govern our sovereign affairs. “
A senior Chinese official told the Guardian: “We are not interested in building a naval base here in the Solomon Islands.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison seemed convinced on Wednesday that Sogaware “has made it very clear that he does not accept any [military] base of the Solomon Islands. They are not.”
However, his own deputy broke the ranks to contradict him and warned that the deal could mean that the Solomon could become “our own little Cuba.” Barnaby Joyce said: “China is able, if it follows, to establish a military base there.
Map of the Solomon Islands
These fears are supported by an expired letter published on News.com.au on April 7, which raises concerns that China may have found a place for a potential base in the province of Isabel. The letter, allegedly from the president of Avic International Project Engineering Company, a Chinese state-owned company, to former provincial governor Isabel, said the company “intends to explore the possibility of developing naval and infrastructure projects on leased land.” for the People’s Liberation Fleet, for [Isabel] A province with exclusive rights for 75 years. ”
Isabel’s new prime minister, Roda Sikilabu, said he had doubts about the letter to News.com.au. “I really believe that this letter was made by people with negative intentions, because I do not believe that the former CEO would be involved in such deals. And I personally do not think that a naval base will be built anywhere in the country.
“Sovereignty undermined”
For the people of Solomon Islands, fears of a naval base are secondary.
“From the point of view of the people of Solomon Islands, there is a lot of concern about undermining sovereignty,” Batley said, “and potentially their country being the focus of much greater geostrategic competition. Not to mention the way in which this can contribute to general social unrest, contribute to distrust of the government, cynicism of politicians and so on. “
Georgina Leping, a young filmmaker and Solomon Islands activist, said there were fears among young people in the country that the deal could allow the government to call on the Chinese military for political purposes, such as crushing protests.
“As the security agreement with China caused a stir on all social media, especially Facebook, I saw …
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