Which is fine. Sometimes you have to sacrifice your pride in international relations.
After last week’s trip by Australian two most senior spooks to the Solomon Islands, which was received as a glaring insult by the glass-jawed regime, the Morrison Government rushed over a senior minister as a symbolic groveling apology:
The federal government has urged the Solomon Islands to ditch a security agreement with China that could allow the Asian superpower a military presence much closer to Australia.
Pacific Minister Zed Seselja made an urgent pre-election dash to the pacific archipelago, about 1700km off the coast of Queensland, to discuss the controversial deal, “elements” of which have already been “initialled”, according to the Solomon Islands government.
The Senator said Australia recognised its neighbour’s right to make sovereign decisions about its security but “respectfully” asked Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare and other ministers to reconsider, in a meeting on Wednesday.
At least we had the US step in to help put some steel into our kowtowing:
One of America’s top foreign policy makers has warned Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare that China will become his country’s “owner and minder” if he pushes ahead with a security agreement with Beijing.
US Senate foreign affairs committee chairman Bob Menendez said it was not in the interests of the US, Australia or the Solomon Islands for a Chinese base to be established in the Pacific nation, and Mr Sogavare needed to understand “what it means to all of us if that were the pathway forward”.
Where do we go from here? It’s up to the Sogavare Government.
I can’t see why it would have come this far only to turn back. After all, it’s been rewarded with the attention that it wanted. It seems most likely that he will sign the deal and then keep promising that it is meaningless so as to keep the pressure on Canberra for concessions.
This is an unacceptable outcome for Australia. The moment the Chinese base commences construction, in any form, to reverse it will be a virtual act of war upon China.
It must be stopped now and the agreement never be implemented in any meaningful way.
Either Australia will need to unleash a destabilisation campaign in the islands that it is very confident will succeed. Or it needs to get much more heavy-handed in a hurry.
Whatever it takes, this base must never commence construction.
