The U.S. delegation to the Solomon Islands led by National Security Council Indo-Pacific Coordinator (aka Asia czar) Kurt Campbell issued threats yesterday against Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare in an obvious effort to get him to break the security agreement he just signed with China. “The two sides engaged in substantial discussion around the recently signed security agreement between Solomon Islands and the People’s Republic of China,” the White House readout, issued after a 90-minute meeting, reported. “Solomon Islands representatives indicated that the agreement had solely domestic applications, but the U.S. delegation noted there are potential regional security implications of the accord, including for the United States and its allies and partners. The U.S. delegation outlined clear areas of concern with respect to the purpose, scope, and transparency of the agreement.
“If steps are taken to establish a de facto permanent military presence, power-projection capabilities, or a military installation, the delegation noted that the United States would then have significant concerns and respond accordingly,” the U.S. side bluntly warned.
A report in the Solomon Star News proclaims that is the latest in a flurry of joint diplomatic activities aimed at forcing Solomon Islands to abandon the security pact, falsely claiming China was going to use the agreement to build military bases in Solomon Islands.
The U.S. delegation’s visit followed that of Australian Minister for International Development and the Pacific Zed Seselja, last week, which apparently did not go well. “The resentment was quite obvious,” conceded one insider after the meeting.
The Solomon Star News analysis states that Washington believes a “free and fair election could result in a new government that not only abrogates the security deal (with China) but switches back to Taiwan.” The U.S. Administration also believes such an outcome would be a “serious loss of face for Xi Jinping, giving ammunition to his domestic enemies, and could lead to a politically weakened Sogavare being more exposed to prosecution,” according to Reuters and the Sunday Guardian newspaper (I did not find the Reuters report but the Sunday Guardian article is here).
The Star News quotes a former Foreign Minister and Prime Minister Danny Philip as making two points: One is that the U.S. for the most part has ignored the Solomon Islands for most of the past 80 years, after leaving behind tons of unexploded ordnance and hazardous materials left over from the vicious battles fought there during World War II. Secondly is a volatile combination of cultures and belief structures within the population that make governance difficult. Philip stressed that the need for establishing a strong and effective internal security apparatus and system to underwrite and guarantee economic development as national assets is important. “This alone is the basis for the expanded scope of security arrangement between Solomon Islands and China,” he said.
