Manasseh Sogavare ‘to install China force’ in Solomons

The Solomon Islands opposition says Chinese security personnel could soon outnumber Australian peacekeepers in the country.

Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare. Picture: AFP

The Solomon Islands opposition says Chinese security personnel could soon outnumber Australian peacekeepers in the country, warning that Prime Minister ­Manasseh Sogavare is likely to ­install a “strongarm” force to ­cement his hold on power.

Prominent Solomon Islands opposition MP Peter Kenilorea Jnr said Mr Sogavare’s “insane, unhinged” claim this week that Australia had threatened to invade the country had set the scene for the rapid deployment of ­Chinese “boots on the ground”.

Scott Morrison – who warned earlier that a Chinese base in the Solomon Islands would be a “red line” for Australia – came under intense pressure while campaigning in Sydney over Mr Sogavare’s tirade, arguing his Pacific counterpart “has not a word of criticism for our country”.

But Labor defence spokesman Brendan O’Connor said Mr Morrison had inflamed tensions with Solomon Islands with his “rhetorical red line reference”.

“He doesn’t get soft-power diplomacy. He doesn’t understand statecraft,” Mr O’Connor said.

In an extraordinary speech, Mr Sogavare condemned “concerned parties” for what he said was a “tacit warning of military intervention” in Solomon Islands.

Mr Kenilorea said the comments, and Mr Sogavare’s suggestion that Australia had failed to arrive soon enough to quell last year’s violent protests in Honiara, were aimed at undermining Australia’s long-term security partnership with Solomon Islands.

“His design is obviously to minimise Australia’s role here and promote China’s role, to overtake, literally, the partnership we have had with Australia including the (security) treaty,” he told The ­Australian.

“The idea that he is putting forward is ‘We asked Australia, but they took time to arrive and Chinatown was already gone’. For me that implies there will be (Chinese) boots on the ground before things actually happen.”

Australia currently has 120 Australian Defence Force and Australian Federal Police in Honiara, where they will remain until late 2023 to help local police to maintain order.

But Mr Kenilorea said Mr Sogavare would need Chinese security personnel on the ground if he pushed ahead with his proposed delay to national elections, from May next year until some time in 2024.

“The idea of delaying the election is so unpopular here, but if the majority of the government still wants to do that, it will need some strongarm support to ensure this will carry without any other disturbances or unrest,” he said.

Mr Kenilorea said some on the periphery of the government were uneasy about Mr Sogavare’s attacks on Australia, but the Prime Minister appeared relatively safe going into the election thanks to his ability to use Chinese funding to secure political support.

“It might be in the form of projects. It doesn’t have to be money, but could be certain rural projects,” he said.

“I know they are looking to do that with a few of the Malaitan MPs who campaigned on that.”

In his address to parliament on Wednesday, Mr Sogavare said critics of his China security deal had treated Solomon Islanders like “kindergarten students walking around with Colt .45s in our hands”.

“We deplore the continual demonstration of lack of trust by the concerned parties, and tacit warning of military intervention in Solomon Islands if their national interest is undermined in Solomon Islands,” Mr Sogavare said.

“In other words, we are threatened with invasion.”

Echoing Chinese and Russian talking points, Mr Sogavare also declared there were “two sides” to the story of the Cuban missile crisis and the war in Ukraine.

New Zealand Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta said there had been a “relationship failure” with the Solomon Islands, rather than an intelligence failure.

“That is why it is so important for the Solomons to provide a level of transparency to ensure we can elevate the conversations around the impact of those arrangements … to the Pacific Island Forum,” Ms Mahuta said.

But Mr Morrison defended his record, saying he had spoken to Mr Sogavare “in the last few months” about the security pact, and was acting on high-level advice in not pushing his Solomon Islands counterpart harder on the matter.

“I can tell you clearly, I am following carefully the advice I get from our security intelligence agencies in how we are responsibly managing the issues in relation to this matter,” he said.