For the first time since the South Pacific island inked a security treaty with China, Australia's foreign minister spoke with her Solomon Islands colleague, raising worries about Beijing's advance on Australia's border.
Foreign Minister Marise Payne said she met Solomon Islands Development Planning and Aid Coordination Minister Jeremiah Manele in Brisbane, Australia's east coast capital, on Friday night when he was transiting through the airport.
China-Australia Tension Over Solomon Islands
According to Payne's office, the two agreed that Australia would remain the Solomon Islands' preferred security partner and that no foreign military facility would be located within 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) of Australia's northeast coast.
Should the Solomon Islands' pact with China constitutes a danger to US or partner interests, the US has threatened to take unspecified measures against them. Manasseh Sogavare, the Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands, told Parliament this week that opponents of the China security deal had threatened his country with invasion.
In accordance with Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Australian Trade Minister Dan Tehan said the two ministers had a very good session. According to Tehan, a Chinese station in the Solomon Islands is not in the region's best interests. In the May 25 elections, Morrison's coalition is seeking a remarkable fourth three-year term. Morrison hailed the conference as a vindication of Australia's regional leadership, as per Washington Post.
Morrison and his ministers have been attempting to portray Labor opponents as soft on China since early this year. According to the Straits Times, Morrison's Liberal-National administration said that the opposition party was unable to protect Australia's interests in the acrimonious disputes that have erupted between Canberra and Beijing over the previous five years.
The Australian Foreign Minister met with her Solomon Islands colleague and expressed grave concerns about China's security agreement with the island nation.
In a statement, Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne stated, "Australia has been consistent and clear in expressing our support for the Solomon Islands' sovereign decision-making, but we have reaffirmed our significant concerns about the security deal with China, notably the lack of transparency."
Australia Prepares For Federal Election
Following the publication of the proposed pact's terms, Australian Minister for International Development and the Pacific Zed Seselja traveled to Honiara, Solomon Islands' capital, on April 12 to unsuccessfully request that the government withdraw it. Despite China's repeated denials of ambitions to militarize the Solomon Islands, security analysts remain suspicious of Beijing's motives, as per Big News Network.
Meanwhile, Jac, a Chinese-Australian accountant, considered recent election advertisements with the tagline CCP urges Vote Labor being pushed by trucks throughout Australia to be exceedingly foolish.
The massive advertisements depict Chinese President Xi Jinping voting and refer to the Communist Party of China. They were intended at the Australian government's adversary, the Labor party, for being soft on Beijing, and were funded by lobbying organizations Advance Australia.
In contrast, as Australia prepares to vote in a federal election on May 21, the government has made being strong on China a campaign slogan. According to Jac, the advertisement was more about the shallowness of Australian politicians and lobby organizations than about "threats" from China, such as war. He also bemoaned the government's failure to protect Australia's interests through diplomacy and collaboration with regional partners as he put it.
Many Chinese-Australians laughed when they saw the advertisement, according to Jac. "What's more, it sent voters mixed messages," according to the report, which also "reflected poorly on Australian officials," who "were blindly following the US's anti-China approach," South China Morning Post via MSN reported.
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