Solomon Islands China

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, left, stands with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison during the signing of the Indigenous Collaboration ...

Another in-person summit is expected to be hosted in Japan later this year, raising the prospect for more Asian governments to be invited to attend. Nevertheless, the eagerness of neutral Finland and Sweden to consider NATO membership following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine shows how quickly long-held positions can change. Nevertheless, the symbolism of New Zealand sending military personnel to Europe is still highly significant. But New Zealand’s only current formal defense ally is Australia. Now the threshold has been crossed, the exact numbers and configuration can always be modified later, as was often done with New Zealand’s contributions in Afghanistan. (Notably, the leaked text that caused such a furor is a draft, and Solomon Islands’ Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare said the treaty had not yet been signed.) In numbers terms, the contribution is tiny – even by New Zealand standards. The constant flow of announcements of support for Ukraine shows – as Ardern put it on Monday – that New Zealand is “playing its part.” If tensions continue to heat up in the Pacific, the idea of New Zealand even joining a more formal Western military alliance cannot be discounted. In April 2021, Mahuta ruffled feathers when she sought to put some daylight between New Zealand and Australia when it came to the countries’ positions on China. The foreign minister said she was “uncomfortable with expanding the remit of the Five Eyes,” after New Zealand had been absent from joint statements on Hong Kong and the origins of COVID-19. Nevertheless, the repetition of Australia’s “Pacific family” and “backyard” lines – and Ardern’s unusually strident tone in criticizing the deal – appeared to be driven by a desire to show unity between Australia and New Zealand when it comes to China. But the “this is our backyard” wording was a far less natural way for a New Zealand prime minister to talk about the Pacific. And to some, the “backyard” phrasing might come across as simply the Australasian version of a sphere of influence. The U.S. president later added “the democracies of the world are revitalized with purpose and unity” and concluded by saying that it was essential for the “world’s democracies” to “maintain absolute unity.”

The Solomon Islands' prime minister said Tuesday that a contentious security agreement with Beijing was “ready for signing”, denying reports that his ...

China has already tried to impose this via a trade war that failed. If that were China then we can expect a series of Pacific Islands to evolve into mini-CCP states with bribed elites, hollowed-out democratic processes and persecution of those disagreeable with the regime. It will be used to bully and intimidate all Pacific democracies that resist it, most especially Australia and New Zealand. This is known as “gunboat diplomacy”, an imperial practice well understood by western powers of the 19th century. We’re simply fortunate that the values that the American empire seeks to promulgate are, on the whole, benevolent (with some obvious and sometimes ruthless mistakes). Now it is planning an unfettered Chinese navy operating out of the Solomon Islands to force it at the end of a canon.

Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare said criticism of his country's security negotiations with China was "very insulting.

He said the nation's security treaty with Australia would stay in place. During anti-government riots last year, Sogavare said the Chinatown neighborhood in the capital Honiara was burned down. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Monday it was a possible “militarization of the region." He would not give details about the final deal. Last week, an early version of the security treaty became public. Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare said criticism of his country's security negotiations with China was "very insulting."