Security Partnership With Beijing Reaps Criticism, PM Sogavare: No Intention To Build Chinese Military Base In Solomon

PM Solomon Manasseh Sogavare. (Wikimedia Commons/Presidential Office Building Taiwan)

JAKARTA - Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare said the reaction to his country's security negotiations with China was "deeply insulting", in his first comments on a security agreement he said was being finalized.

Sogavare told his parliament on Tuesday that the leaked security documents with China were a draft, with he would not provide details on the contents of the deal.

"We are not pressured in any way by our new friends and have no intention whatsoever, to ask China to build a military base in the Solomon Islands," he said.

Furthermore, in his speech before parliament, Sogavare delivered criticism of the big powers which he said did not care if the Pacific islands sank, due to climate change and considered the region the backyard of the great Western powers.

He also denied opposition claims a security pact with China would lead to autocratic rule.

Sogavare said the infrastructure provided to the Solomon Islands must be protected, referring to seven stadiums being built by China in a deal reached after the islands switched diplomatic allegiances.

"If there is a country that doesn't have the political taste to do that, we have to have an alternative arrangement," he said.

The leaked draft said the security agreement would include China's armed police and military protecting Chinese projects. Sogavare rejected the notion that China's presence was a security threat to the region.

Not only that, he underlined, the Pacific island nation will not 'take sides', while the security agreement with Australia will remain in effect.

He added that he had texted Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on the matter, had also written to him on Tuesday morning, explaining the Solomon Islands' position to the Pacific Islands Forum, the main regional group for politics and economics. policy cooperation.

It is known that the Solomon Islands shifted diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to mainland China in 2019.

Australia, New Zealand and the United States have expressed concern about a potential security pact between the Pacific island and China, after a leaked draft suggested it would include Chinese naval vessels.

Reported earlier, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Monday the deal was "potentially militarizing the region", while Australian Defense Minister Peter Dutton said Canberra would be concerned if the deal led to Chinese military bases in the Pacific.