China and Solomon Islands agree wide-ranging security deal
- The contentious agreement is now awaiting their foreign ministers’ signatures
- Western allies fear it could give Beijing its first military foothold in the South Pacific
“Officials of Solomon Islands and the People’s Republic of China have initialled elements of a bilateral security cooperation framework between the two countries today,” said a statement from the prime minister’s office in Honiara.
It is now awaiting signature by foreign ministers of the two countries.
A draft version of the agreement, leaked last week, detailed measures to allow Chinese security and naval deployments to the crisis-hit Pacific island nation.
It included a proposal that “China may, according to its own needs and with the consent of the Solomon Islands, make ship visits to, carry out logistical replenishment in, and have stopover and transition in Solomon Islands”.
It would also allow armed Chinese police to deploy at the Solomon Islands’ request, to maintain “social order”.