Chinese troops in Solomons ‘very likely’, minister says

China is “very likely” to put troops in the Solomon Islands after signing a controversial security deal with the Pacific nation, Australia’s home affairs minister said yesterday.

The deal was announced by Beijing last week, after a draft version leaked on social media and sparked concerns it could open the door to a Chinese military presence in the South Pacific.

Asked how realistic it was that China would request to put troops in the Solomon Islands within the next year, Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews told 4BC radio it was “very likely”.

“It is likely that will be the path that China will be taking in the Pacific region,” she said.

Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare has said there will be no Chinese military base built in his nation under the pact, but has not made public the final version of the deal.

The leaked draft contained provisions allowing for Chinese security and naval deployments to the Solomon Islands, including language stating the “forces of China” would be empowered to protect “the safety of Chinese personnel” and “major projects”.

Andrews also questioned the timing of Beijing’s announcing the deal in the run-up to the May 21 Australian federal election, which has been upended by debate about Pacific diplomacy.

“Beijing is … aware that we are in a federal election campaign here at the moment,” she said. “We talk about political interference and that has many forms.”

Also, Australia’s spy chief said Canberra was concerned Chinese police deployed to the Solomon Islands under the pact could use “ruthless” techniques previously used to quell anti-government protests in Hong Kong.

Andrew Shearer, head of the Office of National Intelligence, travelled to the Pacific islands nation last month in a failed attempt to persuade Sogavare not to sign the pact with China.

He told the Raisina Dialogue conference in New Delhi that Australia responded within eight hours to Sogavare’s request in November for help to quell riots.

Deployed Australian police sit under the command of the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force through a bilateral security treaty.

Australia is concerned about the impact of Chinese police on unity of command in security operations, he said.

“In such a fragile, volatile country Chinese policing techniques and tactics that we’ve seen deployed so ruthlessly in Hong Kong, for example, are completely inconsistent with the Pacific way of resolving issues and could incite further instability … in the Solomon Islands,” he said.

Weeks out from the election, Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s conservative Liberal Party is on the back foot on national security, accused by the Opposition Labor Party of bungling diplomacy in the Pacific.

University of Sydney professor Simon Jackman said a perceived threat from another country has not been an election focus since the Cold War. “For a younger set of voters there is nothing [like that] in living memory,” he said.

Behind in the polls, Morrison’s administration had pointed to its stances on China as a reason to support his party, and claimed without evidence that Beijing was backing the Labor opposition.

Now Labor is highlighting the Liberal government’s failings on national security, its alleged neglect of Pacific diplomacy, and the lease of the northern port of Darwin to a Chinese company.

Morrison said if China built a base in the Solomon Islands, it would be a “red line” for Australia.

“We know that the Solomons is a strategic destination. We know during World War Two some of the fiercest and most important battles for control of the Pacific occurred there,” opposition Labor leader Anthony Albanese said.

Pivoting its campaign away from cost of living and jobs, Labor unveiled a plan to boost diplomacy, soft power, climate change and financial aid in the Pacific, cementing the Solomons pact as an election focus.

Morrison said the government was already doing many of the things Labor proposed, and had struck the Aukus and Quad security partnerships to “provide counterbalance” to China. “They are playing politics with the Pacific, and the only ones who are benefiting from Labor’s attacks on the [Australian] government is the Chinese government,” he said.

Beijing is aware that we are in a federal election … political interference has many forms

HOME AFFAIRS MINISTER KAREN ANDREWS