Australia, US grapple with Solomon Islands tilt to China - Breaking Defense

It’s symbolic. The American embassy in Honiara, capital of the Solomon Islands, has been shuttered since 1993. Now, the US is scrambling to reopen as quickly as it can in the face of China’s increasingly successful campaign to tighten relations with the tiny but incredibly strategic island state.

The latest sign of closer security relations with China came on April Fool’s Day when a draft security agreement between the two countries was leaked. The pattern since the US Embassy closed in 1993 seems pretty clear: The Solomons decided to break relations with Taiwan in favor of the Peoples Republic of China in 2019. And now the prime minister — whose actions have sparked riots that threatened his government’s stability — appears ready to sign a broadly worded agreement with China that would appear to grant China the right for its military ships to call, repair and resupply there and to send troops and police in the event of instability. Ironically, Australia, New Zealand and Fiji did just that when Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare’s hold on power appeared unsteady in November last year and he asked Australia for help under a treaty the two nations signed in 2017. Australia sent troops and members of its highly trained Australian Federal Police to patrol and tamp down the disturbances. New Zealand also sent troops and police; about a dozen Kiwis remain in the Solomons.