Sherman visit aims to ‘spoil Solomon Islands-China ties’
Plan will fail as nations refuse to be ‘pawns’: expert
US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman continued her visit to South Pacific countries and met with Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare in Honiara on Sunday, in what Chinese experts call a sinister attempt to sabotage China’s growing ties with Pacific island countries as part of Washington’s broad containment strategy against China.
The US’ attempt to stir up tension in the Asia-Pacific region, including the South Pacific, in an attempt to contain China’s rise will not be endorsed by the South Pacific countries, as the countries will try to avoid being reduced to chess pieces in the game between great powers, experts noted.
During the meeting on Sunday, the two sides discussed bilateral cooperation. They also discussed “developments affecting regional and global security,” according to a US official statement.
Earlier on Sunday, at a WWII memorial event in Honiara, Sherman rebuked certain governments that she said sought to “dismantle the rulebased international order,” according to Reuters, which suggested that China was the target of her remarks.
Although Sherman did not further elaborate on the “developments affecting regional security” or “governments dismantling international rules,” the statement was clearly directed at China and is another part of the US’ containment strategy against China in the Pacific, Yu Lei, chief research fellow at the research center for Pacific Island countries at Liaocheng University in East China’s Shandong Province, told the Global Times on Sunday.
This high-level delegation of the US government is using the commemoration of a historical event and the friendship in their fight together against Japanese aggression in an attempt to re-establish emotional ties with the South Pacific island countries, Chen Hong, president of the
Chinese Association of Australian Studies and director of the Australian Studies Centre at East China Normal University, told the Global Times.
The visit exposed the US’ sinister motive of comparing today’s China to imperial Japan in the past in order to pit Pacific island nations against China, Chen said.
“The US has a plan to mess up China’s neighboring regions, including the South Pacific, with the real intention of containing China’s rise. However, this strategy of the US is difficult to achieve, especially in the long run,” Yu said.
The South Pacific countries have maintained a fairly independent diplomatic approach, viewing their relations with the US and China from their own interests, Chen said. “They do not want to be chess pieces between the great powers.”
“This is not something that the US can force or use bribes to get the South Pacific nations to change their stances,” Yu said.