a security accord signed between the solomon islands and china back in april is raising
fresh alarm over beijing's growing infants with australia claiming the deal has the potential
to undermine regional stability for more on this i have adam hancock live on the line adam
welcome good afternoon right now australia has been a traditional ally of the solomon islands
and it has made no secret about its concerns with regard to the security pact between china
and the pacific island country let's begin with a few words on these concerns adam well i think the
the main concern for australia is the possibility that china might build some kind of military base
or increase their military presence in the solomon islands remember this is a country there's about
1600 kilometers away from australia and given the worsening tensions at the moment between australia
and china australia are very concerned about china you know being so close with a potential
military base the prime minister scott morrison he described it as a red line he said if china
were to to build a base there and that gives an indication of the worries and the concerns here
now if you take a look at the draft um that was leaked of the security pat between the solomon
islands and china it shows quite clearly that there's the possibility that china could deploy
some kind of naval or strategic units to the solomon islands even armed personnel or police
and to kind of quash any social unrest in solomon so there's definitely reasons for concern and also
this is a part of the world where australia has had a very good relationship with the pacific
island nations for a long time things have been fairly settled suddenly china is coming
in and that's going to rock the boat a little bit it's going to disrupt things a little bit
and it's going to increase the risk for not only australia but also new zealand as well
and their other allies in the region so overall it's it's a part of the world that australia feels
like they've had some kind of control over almost and a really strong relationship with
and suddenly china has kind of come out of nowhere signed this deal and there's possibility
of you know them increasing their presence in the region right adam now like you said this
particular concern is shared by australia the us and of course their allies uh this security pact
they believe may allow china like you mentioned a strategic military foothold in the south pacific
but how are pundits over there in australia weighing the prospect of this particular scenario
well i think a lot of pundits here see this as a genuine risk again if i refer to that leaked draft
document some of the terms of that it's very open-ended at the moment we don't know exactly
the terms of this deal and i think that is what is worrying people because it's a little bit unknown
there's a there's a lot to to be found discovered at the moment um people are concerned of what it
might entail on the flip side of the coin some people are saying we should take it for face value
and listen to what the solomon islands is telling us they are saying there's not going to be a base
they're saying this is purely for an internal security arrangement
and there is lots of secure internal security needed in the solomon islands we have a lot of
we've seen a lot of unrest there some protests some rioting it was uh only back in november
when australia actually sent some personnel over um to deal with some recent unrest and both both
sides at the moment china and solomon islands they've denied that there's anything more to
this and that they're trying to build a base or anything but i think overall most people
do have a lot of concern about it we know for a while now china has been signing some economic
deals with pacific island nations and they've certainly been eyeing up that part of the world
and i think people are looking upon this a little bit wary at the moment right adam prime minister
minister sagar of the solomon islands has taken issue with the word backyard used by australian
home affairs minister karen andrews in referring to the islands now speaking within your capacity
as a journalist do you see this particular word as a harmless metaphor something more
i would probably look at it more towards being a bit of a harmless metaphor it's probably a
little bit of a throwaway comment um language in australia can from time to time be quite casual
even within australian politics and effectively referring to something as being in your backyard
is basically just referring it to something being quite close by i don't think it's meant in too
much of a derogatory manner although clearly it has caused a lot of upset in the solomon islands
the prime minister as you mentioned he went on a bit of a a tirade about it in parliament the
other day saying a backyard is somewhere where you put your rubbish we should be treated with more
respect we're an independent nation we have a vote at the united nations we should be treated equally
and also it's all part of a wider kind of feel that australia has started to take their eye off
the ball a bit when it comes to solomon and the other pacific nations they reduced some
federal aid um there was a lot of upset that australia didn't send more senior ministers
uh to the solomon islands when word of this security pack with china first came about
there's been a lot of criticism from the opposition labour party here about the
way the government has handled this so using terms like backyard it probably does look a
bit um unprofessional certainly a little bit disrespectful but from a personal opinion i
would say knowing you know australian culture and the australian use of language is probably
a little bit more harmless but maybe maybe lost in translation slightly right and staying
with language um adam this is an impromptu question but there's also been talk about how
the prime minister of the solomon islands talked to spoke spoke about that is of a potential
invasion of the country how are authorities over there in australia responding to this
yes yes that that came out the other day and scott morrison actually released a statement
or gave a press conference off the back of that and i think he was trying to just slightly calm
things down i mean it was scott morrison after all he first of all came out with this comment of
a chinese base and solomon would be crossing a red line he was then asked by a journalist
what exactly would happen if china was to cross a red line and he didn't really have an answer
but it was sort of given the indication that there could be some kind of you know military
force and over um no suggestion at all that that's going to happen um but i think given the
the anger from the solomon prime minister of the day scott morrison has come out and he's tried to
improve relations he sort of said how they'll deal with this issue diplomatically they'll continue to
have good conversations he's referred to a lot of uh previous um you know good moments between the
two countries including the aid that australia has provided to the solomon islands support with kovid
19 vaccinations and he's tried to go go back on that a bit and and just simmer things down a bit
because it really did um have the prospect of boiling over and remember we are in the middle
of the general election campaign here the last thing that prime minister scott morrison wants
to do is to be dragged into a row over the solomon islands right and i will get into that in a bit
but first adam some observers believe that the security arrangement may have far-reaching global
repercussions as the region hosts important shipping lanes do you care to elaborate
sure yes well solomon islands are based in the middle of a very strategically important
area of the world it's shipping lanes that connect the usa and their allies in asia as
well as australia and new zealand and china knows full well that if they were to get
some kind of stronghold in the solomon islands they could possibly you know block or disrupt
those shipping lanes which are very sought after and a very important way for australia
to communicate with the pacific and also for trade and shipping uh to come between the us and asia so
it's a key part of the world and there's a much wider global context this isn't just about the
solomon islands it's about china's possibility of taking more control in this part of the world
and yet again in another part of the world gaining more of a firmer grip um and you know
a firmer base and that is something that's causing a lot of concern it could also cause isolation for
australia as well if if china is to gain some control over these waters then again it kind of
isolates australia a little bit further and and causes a bit more angst i mean these shipping
routes they've they've long been sought after you go back as far as world war ii uh when japan were
trying to get control of the solomon islands so they could get control of these shipping lanes so
this is nothing new this part of the world has seen a lot of things like this in the past
but it's very very important at the moment what's happening in a wider global context
right and now adam going back to the domestic front over that in australia like you mentioned
this latest regional diplomatic development is becoming an issue ahead of the country's may 21st
national elections having said that what has been the general public response
well i think it has actually been a little bit of concern about this people are well
aware of this story it's led the news here for a couple of weeks now and everybody is aware of
the ongoing um sort of dispute between china and australia scott morrison has obviously been very
vocal about china so people know about it the sydney morning herald newspaper they actually
ran a poll where 72 percent of the people polled said that they were concerned about this news
of this security pact so it's something that's cutting through it's you know it's making noise
whether or not it's going to influence the election that remains hard to hard to hard
to call at the moment really i mean obviously the opposition labour party they're trying to
make a big deal out of this they're trying to use it as a stick to beat the government
with they they said it they've dropped the ball they've made a huge political blunder
in allowing this deal to go ahead but whether it's going to actually cut through with voters
it's hard to call there's plenty of other things at the moment in focus here obviously the economy
we saw interest rates being raised this week here we're coming out of the back of a pandemic there's
lots of discussion now that has been handled uh day to day the cost of living crisis as well so
it's as always in in australian elections that the focus is mainly on domestic issues but for
the first time in a long while in an election campaign a foreign affairs issue has become a lot
bigger and of course as i as i mentioned earlier this is of course bigger than just the solomon
islands this is about china and china's grip on this part of the world and and that's something
that that is something sorry that that does concern australians right all right adam thank
you very much for making the time to join us live with your uh thoughts thank you very much