China chips away at US-Australian influence in the Pacific, as Solomon Islands bans foreign naval vessels
- The Solomon Islands’ suspension of navy visits comes amid growing competition for military and economy influence in the South Pacific
- A deal between China and the Solomon Islands to build telecommunications towers in August raised concerns in Washington and Canberra
China’s financial backing for new telecommunications towers in the Solomon Islands, followed by Honiara’s ban this week on foreign naval visits, shows Beijing’s influence in the South Pacific is deepening, experts say.
The government issued the statement after a US coastguard ship and a British navy vessel reported they were unable to dock in the archipelago. Sogavare has denied the claims, saying there were delays in processing their approvals.
The decision to ban naval visits comes just weeks after China’s Huawei Technologies Co. and contractor China Harbour Engineering struck a deal with the Solomon Islands government to build 161 mobile telecoms towers for the country.
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The state-backed Export-Import Bank of China will loan 448.9 million yuan (US$65 million) over 20 years at 1 per cent interest, the Solomon Islands government said in a statement earlier this month.
The first 48 towers should be finished by next year before the nation hosts the 2023 Pacific Games for the first time in November.
The telecoms loan agreement, followed by the naval ship ban, is likely to reignite Western fears about their position in the South Pacific and the rising role of China, some analysts said.
Carl Thayer, emeritus professor at the University of New South Wales in Australia, said ship ban might show that Sogavare had tired of US pressure over his security deal with China in April.
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“The speculation is that US officials were following very carefully the implementation of this security agreement … and Sogavare was being very sensitive to that,” he said.
The South Pacific has long held strategic interest to the US, which has territories in the regions such as Guam, and Compacts of Free Association with Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Palau.
Following the end of World War II, however, successive US administrations largely ignored the South Pacific, leaving aid and investment to regional allies Canberra and Wellington. But that has started to change as China’s influence has grown.
A foothold in the Solomon Islands would allow China to control shipping lanes and “cut off” US allies in the South Pacific, said Malcolm Davis, senior defence strategy analyst with the Australian Strategic Policy Institute in Canberra.
He said the telecoms deal represented a “geopolitical shift” that meant the Solomon Islands under Sogavare is “aligning to Beijing in every sense”.
The telecoms contract is a “wake-up call to the US and Australia”, which have been neglecting their role in the South Pacific by not giving island nations what they really want, said Thayer.
“The Solomon Islands wants Australian aid on projects that the Solomons identifies over 10 years,” Thayer said. Canberra had been treating some island nations like “pawns”, he added.
Australia is trying to step up aid in the South Pacific, but because of domestic laws it cannot “fly in with suitcases full of money” as China does, Davis said.
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The telecoms towers will help the Solomon Islands extend its internet coverage, said Austin Strange, an assistant professor of politics and public administration at the University of Hong Kong.
“Like many developing countries, including other small island states in Oceania, the Solomon Islands has poor pre-existing telecommunications and other digital infrastructure,” Strange said.
The Chinese embassy in the Solomon Islands has said infrastructure is “lagging” and a “bottleneck” for the country’s social development.
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Hosting the Pacific Games next year will give the government extra incentive to complete the towers, Strange said.
“Such projects also enable host country governments to visibly and tangibly demonstrate to their constituents that they can deliver modern infrastructure,” he said.
“Leaders have incentives to deliver these national projects during the lead-up to domestic and internationally politically important events.”
The Solomon Islands government said the new telecoms towers will generate enough revenue to pay back China’s loan principal and interest.
