Solomons deal built on cooperation

Pacific nation's PM hails security pact with China that advances regional peace

The Solomon Islands' security cooperation with China is not directed at any other country or external alliance and the country deserves the respect of all partners for its sovereign decision, said Manasseh Sogavare, the prime minister of the Pacific nation.

Addressing a parliamentary session on Tuesday, Sogavare said: "Let me once again reiterate that Solomon Islands security cooperation with China is guided by the country's foreign policy of 'friends to all and enemies to none'.

"Solomon Islands do not have any external adversaries nor is the framework directed at any countries or external alliances, rather at our own internal security situation from within the state. It complements our (2017) security agreement with Australia."

The sovereign interests of the Solomon Islands, which the country had subscribed to under the Biketawa and Boe declarations on regional security, should be duly respected, he said.

"I ask all our neighbors, friends and partners to respect the sovereign interests of Solomon Islands on the assurance that the decision will not adversely impact or undermine the peace and harmony of our region," he was quoted by the Solomon Star news website as telling the parliament.

With a population of less than 700,000, the island nation is a chain of hundreds of islands lying east of Papua New Guinea in the Pacific Ocean and less than 2,000 kilometers east of Cairns in northern Australia. But it has long struggled with political unrest, most recently in November when protesters targeted the Chinatown district in the capital Honiara and tried to storm Sogavare's residence.

The Ministry of Infrastructure Development's latest report on the riots showed an estimated loss of SBD$811 million ($98.7 million) in 2021. The report also showed that 81 businesses and buildings were affected, including 53 buildings that were destroyed and 28 partially damaged structures.

The total loss was equivalent to 6.1 percent of the value of the pre-unrest 2021 GDP, local media reported, citing government data.

Sogavare said Chinese armed forces will now be allowed to protect Chinese investments by force if necessary. The deal is the first official one of its kind for billions of dollars' worth of Chinese investment.

"We entered into an arrangement with China with our eyes wide open guided by our national interest," Sogavare told the parliament.

The Solomon Islands had subscribed to the Biketawa Declaration and the Boe Declaration on Regional Security and committed to the principle of noninterference in the domestic affairs of another member state and support for the development of National Security Strategy frameworks to address its traditional and nontraditional security threats.

Under the Boe Declaration, all Pacific countries were asked to develop their respective national security strategies.

'In best interest'

Sogavare assured the country that the signing of the security pact with China was done in the best interest of the country, and it complements regional and bilateral peacekeeping arrangements.

He said Foreign Minister Jeremiah Manele would visit countries in the region.

However, the pact has drawn unusual outside scrutiny. In a statement on Tuesday, officials from Australia, the United States, New Zealand and Japan expressed "shared concerns about the security framework and its serious risks to a free and open Indo-Pacific", ignoring the 2017 Australian security pact with the Solomon Islands.

In Honiara, the focus is to advance national development priorities and restore confidence for local businesses and investors to build better and bigger investments.

A $200 million reconstruction and rehabilitation package over two years has won the green light to assist businesses affected by the November riots, according to the Solomon Times.

The civil unrest had also severely harmed the government's fiscal operations. Preliminary indicators have shown that the government lost $120 million in revenue in the last two months of 2021 alone, Minister of Finance and Treasury Harry Kuma told the parliament last week. Revenue losses for 2022 are estimated at $200 million, he said.

karlwilson@chinadailyapac.com