Solomon Islands turns down Biden’s outreach on Pacific
Seen as setback for US in power clash with China
SYDNEY — American efforts to rally Pacific island leaders at a White House summit this week were dealt a blow when the Solomon Islands said it would not endorse a joint declaration that the Biden administration plans to unveil.
As President Biden prepared to host the leaders of a dozen Pacific countries on Wednesday and Thursday in a first-of-itskind gathering, the Solomon Islands sent a diplomatic note to other nations in the region saying there was no consensus on the issues and that it needed “time to reflect” on the declaration.
The setback just hours before the start of the summit is a sign of the challenges Washington faces as it tries to reassert influence in a region where China has made inroads. It came as Vice President Kamala Harris tours East Asia, where she is emphasizing US commitment to a “free and open Indo-Pacific” during stops in Japan and South Korea. In remarks in Japan on Wednesday, Harris condemned China’s “disturbing” actions in the region, including “provocations” against Taiwan.
China has increased diplomatic ties with and financial aid to Pacific island nations in recent years while pushing security agreements that could increase its military presence in a region whose key shipping routes and natural resources make it strategically valuable.
While the timing of the objection to the summit declaration was something of a surprise, the source was not. The Solomon Islands has drifted closer to China since the election of its combative prime minister, Manasseh Sogavare, in 2019. The Solomon Islands switched its diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing a few months later and made headlines again this year when it struck a controversial security pact with China that the United States and its allies fear could lead to a Chinese base in the archipelago, about 1,000 miles from Australia’s coast.
This month, Solomon Islands lawmakers voted to delay national elections from 2023 until 2024, in what critics called a “power grab” and a sign of growing Chinese-style authoritarianism.
In an address to the UN General Assembly in New York last week, Sogavare said his nation had been “unfairly targeted” and “vilified” because of its relationship with China. In the diplomatic note, reviewed by The Washington Post and dated Sept. 25, the Solomon Islands Embassy to the United States in New York said the declaration would need “further discussion.” The Australian Broadcasting Corp. first reported that the Solomon Islands was refusing to sign the joint statement, which the ABC said has been in the works for weeks. According to a draft of the declaration reviewed by the ABC, the statement will declare climate the “highest priority” and “single greatest existential threat” to the Pacific. But Pacific countries appeared to have removed a reference to the China-Solomon Islands security pact, deleting language emphasizing the need to “consult with one another closely on security decisions with regional impacts,” the ABC reported.
During the summit, the White House will unveil its first Pacific Island strategy, a focus of which will be climate change, on which Pacific nations have demanded more decisive American action. Another component will be increasing efforts by US agencies to combat illegal fishing and to help Pacific countries sustainably manage swaths of ocean. More details on the strategy and related initiatives would come during the summit, US officials said.
“Our goal over the next couple of days fundamentally is to meet the Pacific islanders where they live,” said a senior US administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity about the discussions.