Here’s the draft agreement:
With Parliament due to sit in Honiara (and the existing security concerns which led to a RPNGC deployment to Solomons) it will be interesting to see whether the agreement is raised by the Opposition. 2/6 pic.twitter.com/pQ96MFHLi2
— Dr Anna Powles (@AnnaPowles) March 24, 2022
Article 1 refs China’s “own needs”. What are these needs (strategic interests?) and what if they cut across Solomon Islands’ interests or the interests of Solomon Islands’ key partners such as Australia or PNG? 4/6
— Dr Anna Powles (@AnnaPowles) March 24, 2022
Article 5 of the security cooperation agreement refers to “confidentiality” and raises questions about the degree to which the parties will seek to control public information = controlling the political narrative. END 6/6
— Dr Anna Powles (@AnnaPowles) March 24, 2022
**It’s important to state the authenticity of this document still needs to be verified.If it is authentic, it is deeply concerning.If it isn’t authentic, it still provides some interesting insights into how geopolitical dynamics are playing out domestically in Solomon Islands.**
— Dr Anna Powles (@AnnaPowles) March 24, 2022
The opposition is horrified:
Opposition MP Peter Kenilorea Jr says he “won’t be surprised” if this document is real. He adds he’s been aware of negotiations since late last year and he’s “deeply concerned” by the development: “this has implications for the pacific islands region, including Australia” https://t.co/8Nq1pMUxkq
— Stephen Dziedzic (@stephendziedzic) March 24, 2022
DFAT is alarmed:
“members of the Pacific family are best placed to respond to situations affecting Pacific regional security. We would be concerned by any actions that destabilise the security of our region.”
When asked if the Morrison Government had dropped the ball on the Chinese plan to put a naval into the Solomon Islands, here’s Defense Minister Peter Dutton alarming reply:
Not at all.
If you look at … the amount of support that we have provided into the Pacific, the work we’ve done in Tonga, the work we continue to do in PNG and every other nation – I’m meeting with my New Zealand counterpart this afternoon – it’s a standing agenda item for all of us to be able to realistic about China’s footprint, their exertion, their pressure and the way in which they conduct their business.
I don’t think [China’s ambitions in the Pacific are] consistent with the values that we share with the Solomon Islands and with Tonga, and other countries. There’s aid … and many ways we’ll work very closely together. We’ll continue to do that. We want peace and stability in our region. We don’t want pressure and exertion from China to continue to roll out in the region.
We have a fantastic relationship with the Solomon Islands and we’re there at the request of the government of the Solomon Islands at the moment. We have 50 people on the ground and they’re going to stay there in the run-up to 2023. There’s a lot more we can do for them.
As part of the Pacific family, it is obvious we want to work together and we want to resolve any issues within that family, within our region. And we would be concerned clearly about any military base being established and we would express that to the Solomon Islands’ government.
That’s motherhood bullshit. Dutton is still working from the soft power playbook where we complete over aid funding and the like.
But China has gone directly to the strategic competition playbook in which guns are all that matter.
Wake up, Canberra, this is war!
