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Opinion | With China as its business partner, Solomon Islands and the region are safe and sound

By Augustus K. Yeung

Introduction

As they say, "Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder." While the neighboring Western nations around the Solomon Islands see "threat" to the region, I see "beauty" in this new change: With a nation like China, which is on the rise, the Solomon Islands stand to gain economically without any threat to peace in the region. This beauty will be spelled out at the end of this essay.

Nevertheless, it is quite normal for these nations to be "concerned", as this represents a significant change, especially at the time when Washington is leading the Western nations in the direction of a new Cold War, as the former U.S. ambassador Max Baucus warns that US-China relations are getting worse, "We're at a tipping point here," Baucus told a virtual event hosted by the US-China Policy Foundation. "This current trend is very, very troublesome to me and it's going to take a lot of work to turn that around."

China watchers, by and large, would be concerned, but they would not really be worried that US-China relations would deteriorate to the level of no return--as China's cornerstone foreign policy since the era of Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping is "Pro-America". It is the United States that is presenting itself as a variable in its foreign policy towards China.

China's foreign policy towards the U.S. is and has always been on even keel. At least for now, the leaders of both countries have established a "mutually tolerable mechanism". Even the military complexes on both sides are keeping the communication active and functioning as "stabilizing factors". Towards the end of President Donald Trump's presidency, the U.S. military suspected that their president was mentally "unstable", and they had twice contacted their Chinese counterpart to send the reassuring messages.

So far, the two nations are in good hands.

China's Security Pact with the Solomon Islands Won't Undermine Peace in the Region

"China's security pact with the Solomon Islands will not undermine peace in the region, the Pacific nation's Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare has said in parliament," according to Reuters. ("SOLOMON'S DEFENCE PACT 'NOT A THREAT TO PEACE'. South China Morning Post. Thursday, April 21, 2022)

Sogavare confirmed the two countries' foreign ministers had signed the pact, a day after it was announced by China at a regular news briefing in Beijing and just days before the arrival of United States Indo-Pacific coordinator Kurt Campbell in Honiara.

Officials from the US, Japan, New Zealand and Australia met Campbell in Honolulu to share concerns about the security pact "and its serious risks to a free and open Indo-Pacific", according to a White House statement.

Chinese Police to Maintain Social Order in the Solomon Islands

A leaked draft of the pact included provisions for Chinese police to maintain social order, and for Chinese naval vessels to replenish in the Solomon Islands – alarming Australia at the potential for a Chinese military presence less than 2, 000km away.

New Zealand's foreign minister Nanaia Mahuta yesterday said Auckland had made clear to both the Solomon Islands and China its grave concerns at the pact's potential to destabilize the Pacific region's security.

"New Zealand has a long-term security partnership with Solomon Islands, and I am saddened that Solomon Islands has chosen nonetheless to pursue a security agreement outside the region."

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the Solomon Islands was breaching an agreement within the forum—the main regional grouping—for nations to discuss defence matter with the group before making major decisions.

"We are concerned about the militarization of the Pacific and we continue to call on the Solomons to work with the Pacific with any concerns around their security they may have," Ardern told New Zealand media outlet Stuff.co.nz.

Solomon Islands lawmakers urged Sogavare to publicly disclose the terms of the security pact. The prime minister said the pact would be disclosed after a "process", adding the security cooperation with China was not directed at any countries or external alliances, "rather at our own internal security situation".

"I ask all our neighbors, friends and partners to respect the sovereign interests of the Solomon Islands on the assurance that the decision will not adversely impact or undermine the peace and harmony of our region," the prime minister said, according to Reuters.

Conclusion

As globalization of trade, commerce and industry grow further, so are nations naturally edging closer together, leading to more business contacts and promoting cultural exchanges. It is countries with backward leaders such as Australia that worry about China coming over to the Pacific region. As in the case of New Zealand, a measure of concern about the new change is normal. Besides, New Zealand under the leadership of Jacinda Ardern is doing a better, healthily communicating its "grave concerns" to China not in a hysterical manner that Australia has done.

The presence of the PLA or the Chinese Police in the Solomon Islands is always a sensitive issue just as it had been to the residents in Hong Kong, where eventually facts have proved that the PLA ended up cleaning the debris after a huge typhoon hit Hong Kong hard. Otherwise, it keeps the Chinese soldiers in the garrison.

In this sense, the presence of China's police in the Solomon Islands is a "threat" to the U.S. side--as the islanders would tend to compare the US army with the PLA, which is well-known for being disciplined; Xi Jinping's soldiers are tasked with the mission, "To serve and to protect".

Besides, China's Hainan Island historic transformation is underway: In about ten years, the Solomon Islands will have a "sister class" as a partner; economic development and prosperity are on the way.

Whatever the Americans do, deadly bombs follow; wherever the Chinese go, businesses prosper like Sogo. Knowing China as the seasoned observers do, "Beauty--of the Solomon Islands--is in the eyes of the beholder."

 

The author is a freelance writer; formerly Adjunct Lecturer, taught MBA Philosophy of Management, and International Strategy, and online columnist of 3-D Corner (HKU SPACE), University of Hong Kong.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.

Read more articles by Augustus K. Yeung:

Opinion | As U.S. is doing the dictating, Ukrainian militiamen and civilians are doing the dying

Opinion | Hainan Free-Trade Port, China's gateway to the global market in the 21st century

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