China slams ‘colonialist’ Australia over criticism of Solomon Islands security deal
China has accused Australia of hypocrisy over criticism of its security deal with the Solomon Islands, as the nation’s PM says the agreement is “ready for signing”.
China has accused Australia of hypocrisy over criticism of its security deal with the Solomon Islands, as the nation’s PM says the agreement is “ready for signing”.
Solomon Islands’ Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare on Tuesday described backlash from Australia and New Zealand to the proposed security deal with China as “very insulting” and said he intended to go ahead with the agreement in a fiery speech to parliament, sparking alarm across the region.
Defence experts say the deal, which sent shockwaves through Canberra after being leaked online last week, could lead to the establishment of a Chinese naval base less than 2000 kilometres from Australia’s shoreline.
One commentator has described the situation as “Australia’s Cuban missile crisis”.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin warned on Monday that any attempt to “disrupt and undermine” the deal was “doomed to fail”, describing it as “beyond reproach” and in the “common interest” of both countries.
“Relevant countries should earnestly respect Solomon Islands’ sovereignty and its independent decisions instead of deciding what others should and should not do self-importantly and condescendingly from a privileged position,” he said.
“Why are some individuals concerned about China-Solomon Islands cooperation when the government and the people of Solomon Islands genuinely welcome it?”
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Mr Wang accused Australia of hypocrisy over the AUKUS nuclear submarine pact with the US and UK, saying the deal brought “nuclear proliferation risks to the Pacific Ocean”.
“The international community can make a fair judgement, and the people of Solomon Islands and other Pacific island countries can see this clearly,” he said.
“Any attempt to disrupt and undermine mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Pacific island countries is doomed to fail.”
Meanwhile, the state-run Global Times outlet has slammed a provocative argument last week that Australia and its Pacific partners should be willing to invade the Solomon Islands to prevent the deal going ahead.
David Llewellyn-Smith, founding publisher of MacroBusiness and former owner of leading Asia Pacific foreign affairs journal The Diplomat, said he wrote the controversial piece on Friday hoping to “shock people awake”.
“You can panic early with these things and stop them from happening or you can panic late when your chance has either slipped away or the cost of fighting it is so high that it is unbearable,” he wrote on Monday.
The Global Times took direct aim at Llewellyn-Smith, saying his suggestion “lays bare Australia’s ingrained hegemonic and colonialist mentality toward South Pacific island countries”.
“It’s ridiculous that Australia, on one hand, has closely followed the US in condemning what it perceives (as) Russia’s ‘brutal and unprovoked invasion’ of Ukraine, but on the other, its elites bluntly threatened to invade its neighbour in the South Pacific and foster a regime change,” the outlet wrote.
“Australia has no respect for the Solomon Islands and other South Pacific island countries at all, instead, it has long regarded them as its backyard, treating island countries in the region as sphere of influence or even vassal states.”
Chen Hong, director of the Australian Studies Center at East China Normal University, told the Global Times it “shows the hypocrisy and double standards of Australia’s frantic elites”.
“When these countries hope to expand relations with others, Australia instantly reacts hysterically,” he said.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been forced to defend his government’s handling of the situation, denying on Monday that he “dropped the ball” in the Pacific despite claims from Solomon Islands opposition leader Matthew Wale that Canberra “did nothing” after being warned as early as August last year.
“Absolutely not,” he told reporters.
“We’ve been aware of the risks right across the Pacific. This is why we doubled our development assistance into the Pacific. The reports we’ve seen are not a surprise to us and are a reminder of the constant pressure and threats that present in our region to our own national security.
“And I’ll be speaking today with the Prime Ministers of Fiji and Papua New Guinea. (New Zealand) Prime Minister Ardern and I have been in contact over the weekend as well.”
But New Zealand Defence Minister Peeni Henare said he and his Australian counterpart Peter Dutton were caught off guard by the reports.
“We were both surprised because the intelligence we were getting didn’t exactly match that,” he said.
“We knew that there were some challenges there, with respect to China, but the leaked draft agreement … it did catch me as a surprise and even Minister Dutton.”
Addressing his country’s parliament on Tuesday, Mr Sogavare said the Solomon Islands had “no intention of pitching into any geopolitical power struggle”.
“We welcome any country that is willing to support us in our security space,” he said.
“There is no devious intention, nor secret plan, this is a decision by a sovereign nation that has its national interest at heart.
“It is clear that we need to diversify the country’s relationship with other partners, and what is wrong with that? We find it very insulting to be branded as unfit to manage our sovereign affairs, or (to) have other motives in pursuing our national interests.”
Earlier on Tuesday, Mr Morrison and Ms Ardern expressed apprehension about the security pact. In a readout of the discussion, the pair said they shared concerns about “any actions that would undermine the security and stability of the Pacific region”.
Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong on Tuesday called on the government to outline the next steps if the agreement was formalised.
“It is gravely concerning for Australia’s interests that this agreement enables an enhanced Chinese security presence 1500 kilometres from our shore,” she said.
“Mr Morrison needs to explain how this has happened – and what he plans to do about it.”
– With NCA NewsWire
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