Western powers warned on Thursday that China’s plans to sign trade and security deals with countries in the South Pacific, an area of strategic importance to the United States and its allies in the region, have been leaked.
The co-operation agreements proposed by Beijing were leaked shortly before Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s visit to eight countries in the Solomon Islands capital, Honiara, on Thursday.
Ned Price, spokesman for US diplomacy in Washington, warned the region’s small island states of “dark” deals with China and expressed concern that these would be negotiated in a “hurried and opaque process”.
The deal will offer millions of dollars in aid to 10 small countries, a free trade agreement with China, and access to China’s huge market.
In turn, China would train local police, engage in cybersecurity, expand political ties, make precise sea charts and gain greater access to the natural resources of these islands.
These agreements will be ratified at a meeting between Wang and several regional colleagues on May 30 in Fiji, but they have already raised alarm in some countries in the region.
“China seeks to expand its influence in the world region, where Australia has been its number one security partner since the Second World War,” Australia’s new Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, said on Thursday.
According to him, Australia should “respond” with an “increase” in its commitment to the Pacific, which will take place in the $350 million additional aid plan.
New Zealand, which maintains close ties with China, also thought that Beijing’s security plans in the region were not necessary, in the words of its prime minister, Jacinda Ardern.
David Panuelo, President of the Federated States of Micronesia, a close ally of Washington, warned his Pacific counterparts that the deal might sound “sexy” but gives China “access and control over our region.”
The leak comes after Beijing signed a controversial security deal with the Solomon Islands in April that caught Washington and its allies off guard.
In this context, China’s foreign minister, referring to the security agreement signed today, assured that his country does not intend to build a military base in the Solomon Islands.
He downplayed the suspicion of Australia and the United States, which feared that after this agreement, it would allow Western countries, particularly China, to establish its military presence in the archipelago.
Wang Yi said that this agreement was “guiltyless, honest and true”.
source: Noticias
