China-Solomon Islands relations

What is Beijing up to in the Southern Pacific?

"We're very aware of what the Chinese government's ambitions are in the Pacific,” Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said.

A look at China’s goals and the domestic politics of the deal in the Solomons.

There is opportunity for First Nations peoples to play a far greater role in Australia’s foreign policy.

Old anxieties about Australia’s vulnerabilities remain relatively unchanged, but the new geopolitical order is fundamentally different. 

The deal was likely China's response to AUKUS. Now Australia and the U.S. will consider how to respond, possibly intensifying the security competition in the Pacific.

The security pact is set to ratchet up the strategic tensions both in the Solomon Islands and in the wider Indo-Pacific.

A draft security deal raised alarm in Australia, New Zealand, and the U.S. Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare is trying to assuage those concerns.

The Ardern government’s response seems to be calculated to show unity with Australia on China policy.

The Solomons is a tinderbox of complex ethnic tensions, corruption, and competing local interests, meaning interference from Beijing or Taipei can have disastrous consequences.

The problem was sparked by perceived CCP interference. It can’t be solved by Australia taking a similarly heavy hand.