The Chinese military deal with the Solomon Islands, which will allow the stationing of Chinese police, troops, and weapons in the region, is “ready for signing,” according to Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare.
His comments come in a fiery address to the Pacific nation’s Parliament on March 29, where the embattled prime minister attempted to justify the impending deal, which has sparked concerns from the opposition, as well as Australian and New Zealand leaders.
“We find it very insulting, Mr. Speaker, to be branded as unfit to manage our sovereign affairs,” Sogavare said on March 29, saying his government did not experience any pressure from their “new friends” and there was no intention for a military base to be in the Solomon Islands.
“We are now having this discussion, Mr. Speaker because some lunatics and agents of foreign regimes in the government system have no regard for secrecy. There are people who exist only to undermine the work of legitimate authorities.”
When questioned by the opposition leader, Matthew Wale, on the progress of the agreement, Sogavare said it was “ready for signing.”
The Solomons was the site of the Battle of Guadalcanal during World War II and fought over tooth and nail because of its influence over the sea lanes in the region.
Michael Shoebridge, defence director at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said the deal could lead to a “fundamental change” for the region.
“A good way of thinking about that would be everything we see happening in the South China Sea, East China Sea, and the Taiwan Straits—that will be enabled right here in the South Pacific by a growing People’s Liberation Army presence,” he told The Epoch Times.
“(Sogavare could say,) ‘We need outside help to come and create stability in the country, and our friends China will come and do it,’” Paskal told The Epoch Times. “And that’s when they arrest the leaders, the Malaitan leaders, and God forbid what happens to them in detention.”
Malaita is the most populous province of the Solomon Islands and is led by Premier Daniel Suidani, who has staunchly maintained relations with Taiwan despite the national government switching ties to Beijing in 2019.
She said Australia and New Zealand should try to reinvigorate the democratic process in the country—via the 2000 Townsville Peace Agreement—to put more pressure on Sogavare.
“Put out the steps that the various provinces, including Malaita, agreed to. There’s a whole series of things that have already been negotiated—everybody signed on, including the government under Sogavare,” she said.
Shoebridge agreed, saying the “first order of business” for a new government, if elected, should be to “unravel the agreement.”
“The actual physical experience of having China act inside the Solomons in the way this agreement sets out … will be so obviously at odds with the Solomon Islands’ own sovereignty and security,” he said. “A democratic Solomon Islands will end this, but for now the current government seems determined to create this problem for itself and the region.”
