The Chinese Communist Party
Is making a secret security deal
One that could mean
A military base in the Pacific
Welcome to China Uncensored. I’m Chris Chappell.
This episode is sponsored by Surfshark.
You should be using a VPN like Surfshark to protect yourself whenever you go online.
The Chinese regime has spent decades staking their claim in the South China Sea.
But now the Chinese Communist Party has their eye on the Pacific Ocean.
China’s 9-Dash Line in the South China Sea is soooo 2012.
Now, it’s all about the 90-Dash Line. Better watch out, Hawaii.
One thing that’s key to the Chinese regime’s control over the Pacific Ocean
is gaining more and more influence over the small island nations in the Pacific.
It’s kind of nice to know that no country is too small to be
infiltrated by the Chinese Communist Party.
Case in point: the Solomon Islands. A country of around 650,000 people in the South Pacific.
It has a historically strategic position in the region, and was the site of one of
the major Pacific battles of World War II: The battle of Guadalcanal.
Last week,
leaked documents revealed a secret security pact between China and the Solomon Islands.
A security pact that could lead to a Chinese military presence in the islands.
Which is…concerning.
The Chinese Communist Party has been targeting the Solomon Islands for years.
Not just because it has a strategic location in the South Pacific.
But also because the Solomon Islands was one of only a few countries
that still had official diplomatic relations with the Republic of China, aka Taiwan.
That changed in 2019.
The Chinese Communist Party offered the Solomon Islands a 100 million dollar development loan
to break their ties with Taiwan and switch their allegiance to the People’s Republic of China.
And Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare took the deal.
I mean, why wouldn’t you borrow 100 million dollars from an authoritarian regime
that has a history of offering oversized loans to small countries
that can’t pay them back and end up in a debt crisis?
I hear it’s really going well for Sri Lanka.
But Prime Minister Sogavare wasn’t too worried. And so the country officially
abandoned Taiwan for China. Which is known in the Solomon Islands as “the switch.”
There have been accusations that corruption led to the switch, including “allegations
of bribes of more than $200,000” offered to Members of Parliament to support it.
And the switch reinforced something that had already been happening in the Solomon Islands:
Chinese companies coming in and taking over the local economy.
You see, the Solomon Islands is underdeveloped. It doesn’t have a lot of infrastructure, but
it has a lot of natural resources like minerals, timber, and fish.
This is perfect for the Chinese Communist Party. It gives the Solomon Islands a “development loan”
which then goes to pay Chinese state-owned companies to come in
and build infrastructure. Other Chinese companies come and extract the islands’ natural resources.
And they do it all with Chinese workers. It’s win-win-win! For the Chinese regime.
“PRC-linked companies and workers have poured into the Solomons, spreading cash where needed,
buying influence, distorting local economies and bringing in a more authoritarian approach.”
As you might suspect, this hasn’t been too popular with average Solomon Islanders.
Sogavare’s growing reliance on the Chinese regime has made him unpopular, too.
In fact, tensions over China’s influence built up to the point where
there were huge protests in the country last November.
I did an episode about that, including about what
the mainstream media got wrong about the protests. I’ll post a link below.
In the end, the protests turned into riots, with looting and arson.
As a result, Australia sent peacekeeping troops to the Solomon Islands.
But the Chinese Communist Party was also ready to turn the protests to their advantage.
I’ll tell you how after the break.
Welcome back. Protests against the Chinese Communist Party’s influence
erupted in the Solomon Islands last November.
In the aftermath, the Chinese regime offered to send police advisors to the Solomon Islands,
to help them with anti-riot training. China is also providing anti-riot gear.
As you can imagine, this was a little controversial.
Especially when it came out that China had sent a secret shipment of
“replica guns” to the Solomon Islands police for training purposes.
The Chinese embassy also said the Chinese police advisory group would also “cooperate
with the embassy to conduct visits and safety training for overseas Chinese and
Chinese-funded enterprises, so as to effectively protect the
legitimate rights and interests of Chinese citizens and overseas Chinese.”
The opposition leader in the Solomon Islands,
Matthew Wale called this a threat to the islands’ sovereignty and national security.
But it turns out Wale shouldn’t have been worried about that. Because now
there’s a much bigger threat to the Solomon Islands’ sovereignty and national security.
That secret security pact that was leaked last week.
“The leaked document states that ‘Solomon Islands may, according to its own needs, request China to
send police, armed police, military personnel and other law enforcement and armed forces
to Solomon Islands to assist in maintaining social order, protecting people’s lives and property.’”
Ok, that’s definitely concerning.
It also says “Neither party shall disclose the cooperation information to a third party.”
So this whole thing has to be hush-hush…which is even more concerning.
And it also says “China may, according to its own needs and with the consent of Solomon Islands,
make ship visits to, carry out logistical
replenishment in and have stopover and transition in the Solomon Islands.”
And that “The Solomons will provide ‘all necessary facilities.’”
So both of those things make it sound like the Chinese Navy
is going to be able to just hang out in the Solomon Islands. On some sort of…military base.
Yeah, that’s definitely the most concerning.
This isn’t the first time there have been concerns
over China building a military base in the Solomon Islands.
You see, the Solomon Islands have a lot of deep water ports.
Kind of like the one in Sri Lanka that the Chinese
Communist Party took over after Sri Lanka couldn’t pay back its debt.
A port that the Pentagon is concerned the Chinese regime wants to turn into a military base.
And back in 2019, a Chinese company already tried to take over
one of the Solomon Islands’ deep water harbors.
When it tried to lease the entire island of Tulagi for 75 years from the provincial government.
At the time, local residents were scared China wanted to turn the island into a military base.
Lucky for them, after a lot of publicity and backlash,
that lease was canceled by the Solomon Islands, which said the lease was illegal.
But this new security pact makes China’s military presence in the South Pacific a lot more likely.
How are other countries reacting to this? More after the break.
Welcome back.
After a secret security pact between China and the Solomon Islands leaked last week,
other countries started freaking out.
Especially Australia.
And even New Zealand. Which is not exactly known for being tough on China.
The Solomon Islands are pretty close to Australia and New Zealand.
I don’t think either country really loves the idea of a Chinese military presence there.
Especially after the economic war that China’s been waging on Australia for the past year.
According to some experts, China’s military could use a position in the Solomon Islands
to disrupt or block sea lanes between Australia and the US.
Australia’s deputy prime minister has said this security deal is meant to intimidate Australia.
And Australia’s prime minister is going even further.
“Scott Morrison wants Fiji and Papua New Guinea to
convince the Solomon Islands to ditch its new security deal with Beijing.
The Morrison government will argue that the draft deal, which could see the Chinese
troops stationed on the Solomon Islands, will only bring further geopolitical unrest to the region.”
But Prime Minister Sogavare is now saying the backlash to the security deal is insulting.
He also denied that the Solomon Islands would ask China to have a military base there.
Wait, what kind of non-denial denial was that? No one is worried that the Solomon
Islands is going to ask China to build a military base. It’s the other way around.
Sogavare also said that the security deal is ready for signing.
Although he also refused to give more details about it.
You know what’s kind of ironic about this whole thing? While Prime Minister Sogavare
was making his speech to Parliament defending his security deal with the Chinese regime,
Parliament was being guarded by peacekeeping troops from Australia and New Zealand.
Meanwhile, my favorite Chinese state-run media the Global Times accused Australia
of being a bully that’s smearing China’s role in the region.
Yeah! How dare Australia do that! China can smear its role in the region all by itself!
So let’s say the Chinese Communist Party does not want to build a military
base in the South Pacific. Which I don’t believe for a second, given their history.
But even without that, at a minimum the Chinese regime is spreading their repressive
internal security apparatus, methods, and training overseas. Teaching unpopular leaders
like Prime Minister Sogarvare how to better use their police to repress their own people.
Something the Communist Party is an expert in. And that’s not good
for the Solomon Islands. Or the rest of the world.
And this whole incident is a reminder of how important the Pacific is to international
security. Which is a big reason the US government announced last month
that they’re reopening an embassy in the Solomon Islands, after not having one for 29 years.
It’s all about countering the Chinese Communist Party’s growing takeover of the Pacific.
Before we watch the 9-Dash Line become the 90-Dash Line.
Or the 900-Dash Line.
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Once again, I’m Chris Chappell. Thanks for watching China Uncensored.