The United States, which has hundreds of military bases all over the world, is demanding that the Solomon Islands not allow China to build one on its territory, assuming China even intends to build one there (U.S. claims that China intends to build military bases in Cambodia and Equatorial Guinea have yet to be proven). Kurt Campbell, the National Security Council’s top man on U.S.-China relations, is going to stop in the Solomon Islands as part of a mid-Pacific tour to express U.S. concerns about a security deal that Solomons Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare is to sign with China, concerns that Sogavare has dismissed as “nonsense.”
Australian officials are also “concerned” about the Solomons’ new deal with China but have reportedly been frustrated by the lack of public diplomacy from Washington as they attempted to convince Sogavare to pull out of the deal while respecting The Solomon Islands’ sovereignty, reported the Sydney Morning Herald. That position came to a head last week when Australian Pacific Minister Zed Seselja explicitly asked Sogavare not to sign the deal in a meeting in Honiara. “Australia will continue supporting peace, prosperity, stability and our shared democratic values in Solomon Islands and across the region,” Seselja said last week.
The Solomon Islands changed its diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to China three years ago.
