SYDNEY: China said on Tuesday it had signed a security pact with the Solomon Islands, a move set to heighten the concerns of the United States and allies Australia and New Zealand about growing Chinese influence in a region traditionally under their sway.

However, Solomon Islands officials had earlier appe­ared to suggest no agreement had yet been signed.

Douglas Ete, chairman of parliament’s public accounts committee, had told fellow lawmakers that Chinese officials would arrive in mid-May to sign cooperation pacts. Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare told parliament that a proposed security agreement would not include a Chinese military base.

Ete said the agreements would increase cooperation on trade, education and fisheries, but that he also opposed the idea of allowing China to establish a military base.

In Washington, the White House, which is sending a high-level US delegation to the Solomons’ capital Honiara this week, said it was concerned about “the lack of transparency and unspecified nature” of the pact.

Australian officials said China appeared to want to pre-empt the arrival of the US delegation in Honiara, which the White House said would discuss concerns about China, as well as the reopening of a US embassy.

Published in Dawn, April 20th, 2022