US concerned as China ‘sustains’ military power in Solomon Islands, Australia accused of ‘dropping ball’
America has revealed its concern as China muscles in on the Solomon Islands, and Scott Morrison is accused of “dropping the ball” in the Pacific.
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China’s signed pact with Solomon Islands was part of its program to “project and sustain” military power in the Pacific with implications for regional security including for Australia, the United States’ State Department has declared.
The US deputy assistant to the president Kurt Campbell and Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink visited the island nation for a 90 minute meeting with its president Manasseh Sogavare.
But they failed to get any detail about the secret agreement leaving with just assurances from Mr Sogavare it was domestic and not military. The US administration has flagged its concerns about the outcome of the meeting with Australia.
In a briefing for regional media, Mr Kritenbrink said on Tuesday the “complete lack of transparency behind the agreement” remained a serious concern and the US wanted to project that in person in a “candid way”.
“We wanted to let them know if steps were taken to establish a defacto permanent military presence, power projection capabilities or a military installation then we will have significant concerns and we would very naturally respond to those concerns, I am not going to speculate what they may or may not involve,” Mr Kritenbrink said.
When asked if this was the start of the militarisation of the Pacific, he said there were implications for the region from the agreement as China’s other regional activities such as advancing unlawful maritime claims, militarising disputed features and illegal fishing.
“We do know the PRC is seeking to establish a more robust overseas logistics and basing infrastructure that would allow the PLA (Peoples Liberation Army) to project and sustain military power at greater distances so we wanted to have a candid conversation with our friends in the Solomons, we outlined our concerns, we have noted their assurances they outlined to us and others and we’ve indicated we will continue to monitor the situation closely,” he said.
He said Mr Sogavare had said he could not reveal the detail of the pact without China’s permission and only a very small circle were privy to its parameters, believed to include the option to establish a military presence on the archipelago.
Mr Kritenbrink said while he respected Solomon Islands sovereignty to make its own decisions, China’s objectives remained unclear because the agreement had not been scrutinised, viewed or even passed through any local government approval process before it was signed.
He said the Indo-Pacific was central to America’s security and prosperity and the pact had potential security implications for it and its partners like Australia and his administration would work at stepping up engagement with the region in the wake of the pact.
He declined to comment on Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s branding a potential China naval base in the Solomon Islands as a “red line”.
On the campaign trail in Townsville, Mr Morrison declined to say how Australia would respond if China were to cross his Pacific red line.
The row over the Pacific ratcheted up a notch on Tuesday as leaders from the major parties traded barbs over the security pact.
On Sunday, Mr Morrison declared he had drawn a “red line” amid concerns China could establish a base in the Pacific island nation.
But asked what that response would look like, Mr Morrison refused to be drawn.
“It would not be responsible for me to speculate in public about what Australia, United States and others would be doing in circumstances such as that,” he told reporters in Townsville.
“I am sure you appreciate no responsible Prime Minister would go into the sort of detail you are asking for.
He again stressed he had received assurances from Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare that he had no plans to allow the Chinese to build a base in his country.
In the Northern Territory, Labor unveiled its own plan to improve Australia’s diplomatic and security ties with the Pacific - including a defence school for the region and boosting the ABC’s funding to broadcast in the region.
But the Prime Minister quickly dismissed the plan as nothing that hadn’t been done before.
“What they’re putting out today, the Labor Party, is basically a continuation of all the things that we’re currently doing with one exception: they think the way to solve the problem in the Solomon Islands is to send in the ABC,” he said.
“I mean, it’s farcical, their answer to solving the Solomon Islands problem is to have Q&A in Honiara.”
Foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong accused the Prime Minister of dropping the ball in his own backyard.
“One of the key ways in which you ensure Australia’s security is to secure our region. Mr Morrison has dropped the ball on that task,” she told the ABC.
In his first intervention in the election campaign, predecessor Malcolm Turnbull didn’t hold back in his assessment of the Prime Minister’s performance.
Labor campaign spokesperson Jason Clare said: “You’ve got the Foreign Minister of Australia hiding under her desk with the phone pulled out and they send some bloke called Zed. Is this Pulp Fiction or national security?”
Joining with Labor, Mr Turnbull invoked Mr Morrison’s now infamous response to the black summer bushfire crisis in his criticism of the government’s handling of the issue.
“I mean, the Pacific is not our backyard — it’s where we live, it’s our neighbourhood,” Mr Turnbull said.
“And so you have to use engagement, you have to use diplomacy, you have to be persuasive, you have to go and visit these countries, get to know these leaders, spend time with them.
“This is a hose you have to hold, to put it bluntly.”
Labor leader Anthony Albanese agreed, telling Perth’s 6PR radio the government’s chest beating meant nothing if Australia continued to ignore the Pacific on climate change.
“I think Malcolm Turnbull put it pretty well this morning,” he said.
“The truth is what’s happened in the Solomons is an absolute failure of foreign policy and that’s been recognised by Julie Bishop, by Malcolm Turnbull, and by other commentators and experts.”
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