The new Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands is visiting Beijing as China and the strategically important Pacific archipelago strengthen their relations.
Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele met with his Chinese counterpart Li Qiang on Thursday and met with President Xi Jinping and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Friday before departing on Monday.
China’s influence increased significantly during Manele’s predecessor’s tenure. The country transferred diplomatic recognition of Taiwan to China and signed a secret security pact, raising fears that China’s security forces could gain a foothold in the region, which has long been dominated by the United States, Australia and New Zealand.
These moves came at a time of great tension between Washington and Beijing. The Solomon Islands’ closer ties with China are seen as weakening the influence of the United States and other traditional allies in the Western Pacific.
During their meeting, Li pushed for closer economic cooperation and a “strategic partnership” between China, the Solomon Islands and other Pacific island countries, according to China’s official Xinhua news agency.
Li “stressed that China will continue to uphold the principles of mutual respect, equality, mutually beneficial cooperation and common development,” Xinhua quoted Li as saying.
No explicit mention of military or police links has been made public, but the security pact has raised serious concerns about a Chinese naval presence in the region and the stationing of ground troops, which could make it difficult for other countries to access the region, which is close to Australia and over which Japan and the United States fought bitter battles during World War II.
Although Solomon Islands’ turn to China has not been universally welcomed by the country’s politicians, Manele’s election in May and his visit to Beijing suggest that the country will continue down this path.
Manele has previously visited Australia and is expected to travel to Japan to promote investment and development aid for the country, which is heavily dependent on fishing, agriculture, forestry and mining.