Chinese foreign minister to visit South Pacific island countries

BEIJING (AFP) — China’s foreign minister will this week kick off a visit to a host of Pacific nations including the Solomon Islands, Beijing confirmed Tuesday, after the two nations sealed a security pact last month.

Wang Yi’s trip comes at a time of heightened United States and Australian concern about China’s intentions in the South Pacific.

The trip from Thursday until June 4 is “beneficial to the peace, stability and prosperity of the Asia-Pacific region,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters on Tuesday.

On the trip, Wang Yi will visit eight countries including the Solomons, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Kiribati and Samoa, as well as holding video calls with Micronesia and the Cook Islands.

Wang Wenbin said China attached “great importance to developing friendly relations with Pacific island nations” and called the countries “good friends and partners that have equality, mutual benefits and common development.”

The Solomon Islands government confirmed the China visit in a statement Monday — the day Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was sworn in.

Solomons Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare said the Chinese foreign minister’s oneday visit at the head of a nearly 20-strong delegation would be a “milestone” in the two countries’ relationship.

The Chinese minister will spend one day in Honiara visiting Sogavare, and hold a joint news conference with foreign minister Jeremiah Manele.

Sogavare said he looked forward to a “productive engagement with Beijing, “an important development partner at a very critical time in our history.”