China-Solomon Islands relations

In playing China off against Australia and other allies Sogavare is engaged in a fairly rational game of maximizing the number of resources Solomon Islands can secure.

A Chinese delegation visited the plantation that covers most of Kolombangar Island in 2019, asking questions about the length of the wharf and depth of the water.

After a whirlwind of visits and agreements, where does the Pacific region stand?

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.