Australia is worried that a new defense pact means Chinese troops will soon be posted in the South Pacific.
After the Solomon Islands and China announced they finalized a security agreement last week, Australian officials have expressed concerns about what the relationship means for international security. On Wednesday, Australia’s Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews said she thought it was “very likely” China will request to put troops in the Solomon Islands within a year.
Andrews’s warning came just two days after Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison warned that China erecting a naval base in the islands would be a “red line.”
AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER SAYS CHINESE NAVAL BASE IN SOLOMON ISLANDS IS A ‘RED LINE’
Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare insisted the deal doesn’t allow China to build a naval base, but U.S officials are concerned that the deal the two countries signed hasn’t been released.
“I think it’s clear that only a handful of people in a very small circle have seen this agreement,” Daniel Kritenbrink, assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, told reporters on Tuesday. “And the prime minister himself has been quoted publicly as saying he would only share the details with China’s permission, which I think is a source of concern as well.”
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Kritenbrink stressed the United States understands and respects the Solomon Islands’ sovereignty and right to enter into agreements with other countries but said the U.S. would have “significant concerns” and “would respond to those concerns” if China tried to establish a military presence in the islands.
One version of the agreement that leaked last month suggested China will have the ability to build a naval base if it wants. The document also showed the relationship, which focuses on security concerns, sets up an opportunity for Sogavare to request Chinese troops to quell unrest.
