Firm denies Aussie reports of deal in Solomon Islands

A Chinese forestry firm on Monday denied Australian media reports about an acquisition deal in the Solomon Islands, while observers dismissed the media hype over the rumored deal as another attempt by Australia to smear Chinese cooperation with South Pacific countries.

In a fresh gesture of hostility, the Australian Broadcasting Corp ( ABC) said in an article on its website that state- owned China Forestry Group Corp ( CFGC) is in negotiations to buy a hardwood forestry plantation on the Kolombangara island. The island in the Solomon Islands archipelago “features a protected harbor, deep- water port and an airstrip,” according to the ABC report.

An executive of CFGC’s strategic investment division told the Global Times on Monday that “we don’t have relevant acquisition activities in the island [ as reported by Australian media].”

CFGC, the only centrally administered firm in China’s forestry industry, operates 224 enterprises globally.

Rumors about the plantation deal are a continuation of scaremongering about China’s interests in the South Pacific, said Chen Hong, president of the Chinese Association of Australian Studies and director of the Australian Studies Centre at East China Normal University.

As an independent sovereign nation, the Solomon Islands is entitled to making business decisions based on its own economic development needs; hence, the Pacific nation’s business deals with other countries shouldn’t be politicized, Chen told the Global Times on Monday.

The latest Australian coverage epitomizes conventional Western practice that accuses China of leveraging its financial heft to influence investment destinations’ politics and society, the observer said, lambasting such claims as groundless.

It is the US and Australia, among other Western nations, that have been shown to be adept at playing to their economic strengths; however, they have tried to frame China with such dirty tricks, he remarked.