Solomon Islands Prime Minister to visit Anthony Albanese in Canberra
Anthony Albanese has made a last-minute announcement about an unexpected visit in the midst of simmering tensions over China.
Anthony Albanese will host Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare this week as tensions swirl over China’s influence in the Pacific.
The Australian Prime Minister said on Wednesday the Honiara-Canberra relationship was “incredibly important” and that he welcomed Mr Sogavare’s visit.
“I look forward to engaging with Prime Minister Sogavare on building a strong and prosperous Pacific region, based on principles of transparency, respect and partnership,” Mr Albanese said.
Mr Sogavare’s visit comes after a new report found the Chinese Communist Party has been attempting to influence public discourse in the Solomon Islands through propaganda and suppressing information.
The Chinese disinformation campaign pushed a “fabricated narrative” that Australia, the US and Taiwan instigated the riots in Honiara late last year, according to the Australian Strategic Policy Institute Report.
The report also found the CCP had spread claims that Australia and the US were “colonialist bullies” threatening Solomon Islands’ sovereignty by raising concerns about its security pact with Beijing.
Mr Sogavare and Mr Albanese are expected to have a bilateral meeting and then dinner together at The Lodge on Thursday.
It will be the two leaders’ second meeting after their first one at the Pacific Islands Forum in Fiji in July, where they greeted one another with a hug.
Their warm embrace, which was filmed by travelling media, followed the inking of Solomon Islands’ controversial security deal with China.
The Canberra-Honiara relationship has endured turbulence since Mr Sogavare and Mr Albanese last met in person.
Mr Sogavare last month rejected Australia’s offer to fund elections in the Solomon Islands, calling it an “assault” on his country’s democracy that amounted to “foreign interference”.
The leaking of the deal provided some of the push for the Albanese government’s diplomatic blitz of the region in a bid to counter Chinese influence by reminding Pacific nations that Australia’s support comes “without strings attached”.
The Australian government maintains it is the Solomon Islands’ “security partner of choice”.
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