Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogaware met with Chinese Premier Li Qiang in Beijing last week, Solomon Islands and China signed a “comprehensive strategic partnership” agreement.
Diplomatic relations of the Solomon Islands shifted from supporting Taiwan to cooperating with Beijing when Manasseh Sogaware took power in 2019.
A representative of the US National Security Council said that Washington “respects the ability of countries to make sovereign decisions in the interests of their people” and called on the parties to “immediately publish the text of the treaty and inform the public about the possible consequences of agreements for regional security.”
Among the nine points of the signed agreement on “comprehensive strategic partnership” is an agreement on police cooperation. In June 2023, Manasseh Sogaware called for a review of the 2017 security treaty with Australia, under which Australia provided its own police force to quell riots in the Solomon Islands in 2021. According to a joint statement released by the official Chinese news agency Xinhua, China will continue to assist the Solomon Islands in strengthening its own law enforcement agencies.
The statement also called for “relevant countries” to “prudently” deal with issues such as cooperation in the field of nuclear submarines and the discharge of radioactively contaminated water into the sea, meaning by “relevant countries” the alliance of Australia, the United States and Great Britain AUKUS, as well as Japan.
Manasse Sogaware also met with Chinese President Xi Jinping. “Pacific island countries, like China, are developing countries and should strengthen mutual assistance through South-South cooperation,” Xi said at the meeting.
China has long and consistently developed the so-called South-to-South cooperation, as cooperation between developing countries on equal and mutually beneficial terms.
Calling the two countries “reliable friends and reliable brothers,” Xi said the ties between China and the Solomon Islands have become “a good example of solidarity and cooperation” between developing countries of different sizes.
The Sogaware government sees “quality infrastructure” as a key requirement for expanding economic opportunities and eradicating poverty.
Xi Jinping promised to provide economic, investment and technical assistance “without any political conditions.”
Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei is building a cellular network in the Solomon Islands. The project is financed by a $66 million loan from the Chinese bank EXIM.
A Chinese state-owned company is renovating a port in Honiara, the capital of the Solomon Islands.
Among other things, the countries agreed on cooperation in the field of civil aviation, trade, economics, technology and sports, including a deal on the “Sports Technical Assistance Project”.
China has built a stadium in Honiara for the Pacific sports competition scheduled for November 2023.
Xi Jinping also pledged to support the Blue Pacific Continent Strategy 2050, citing the grandiose plan agreed among the Pacific nations to advance the region’s strategic goals over the next three decades.
The opening ceremony of the embassy of the Solomon Islands took place in Beijing.
Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasse Sogaware returned from Beijing and called Australia “not neighborly”.
Sogaware said that Australia and the US should not be wary of Chinese police support for the Solomon Islands.
“Targeting the relationship between China and the Solomon Islands … not neighborly and disrespectful,” he said.
He added that China had agreed to provide budgetary support to the Solomon Islands.
