China-Solomon Islands security treaty

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

Micronesia’s president called the draft sent out by Beijing “the single most game-changing proposed agreement in the Pacific in any of our lifetimes.”

What is Beijing up to in the Southern Pacific?

Beijing’s ambassador to Australia wrote a newspaper op-ed to try and assuage concerns over China’s new security pact with Solomon Islands – although he didn’t specifically mention the deal.

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

Cooperation, competition, and contestation are at the heart of Australia’s engagement in the Indo-Pacific.

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. 

Washington must start to shape its own policy on the Solomons, otherwise Campbell’s trip is a fool’s errand.

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.