Solomon Islands Lawmaker Says Australia Was Warned on China Pact
Solomon Islands Lawmaker Says Australia Was Warned on China Pact
(Bloomberg) -- A prominent lawmaker in the Solomon Islands said he warned the Australian government that a security deal was in the works between his country’s government and China and Canberra “did nothing about it.”
Opposition leader Matthew Wale, leader of the Solomon Islands’ Democratic Party, said in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that he warned Australian officials as far back as 2021 that there was a security deal in the works between Honiara and Beijing.
“All the indications were there and the Australian government did nothing about it — so I’m extremely disappointed in the Australian government,” Wale told the ABC.
Copies of a security agreement between China and the Solomon Islands were leaked on social media in the past week, which if enacted would allow Beijing to base warships out of the Pacific nation, about 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) from the Australian coast. The Solomon Islands government confirmed the news on Friday, saying it wanted to broaden its “security and development cooperation” to new countries.
Both Australia and New Zealand have voiced concerns over the security agreement, which would allow China to deploy soldiers and military police to the Solomon Islands if requested by the local government. Australian peace keepers are currently on the ground in the country until December 2023, following widespread riots in November last year.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison did not comment directly on Wale’s allegations on Monday, but insisted that his government had “been aware of the risks right across the Pacific.”
“The reports that we’ve seen are not a surprise to us and a reminder of the constant pressure and threats that present in our region to our own national security,” he said, emphasizing the diplomatic outreach his government had spearheaded across the Pacific region in recent years.
Morrison said on he had been in contact with New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern over the weekend to discuss the security agreement, and would be speaking with the leaders of Fiji and Papua New Guinea.
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