In the of this federal election, the fallout from the formal signing of the security agreement between Solomon Islands and China became a point of heated debate.
Labor leader Anthony Albanese further pressed Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Australia's handling of the situation, saying more should have been done to prevent China from getting a foothold in Solomon Islands and the region.
Mr Morrison responded in the leaders' debate by accusing Mr Albanese of "taking China's side", which Mr Albanese rejected as an "outrageous slur".
Former Liberal foreign minister Julie Bishop said on Wednesday she believes it was a mistake to not send foreign minister Marise Payne instead of a more junior minister - Zed Seselja, minister for international development and the Pacific - to meet with Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare last week.
In 2019, Solomon Islands ended 36 years of diplomatic relations with Taiwan and switched allegiance to China. The move has led to mixed reactions from local residents.
Prominent opposition politician Peter Kenilorea Jr. said the deal with China could result in increased tensions within Solomon Islands, particularly when details of the draft agreement revealed the extent of the partnership with China which had not previously been publicly known.
"It's going to cause tensions for sure. And I think it's tensions right across the board. It's not just us in the opposition, but the ordinary folk on the street as well," he told SBS News.
He said the lack of debate within the country's parliament before the deal was signed has only added to tensions domestically.
"I think this deal was already a done deal before all of these responses [from Australia and allies]. We only knew about it because of the leak [of the draft pact], otherwise we wouldn't have known about it."
Mr Sogavare and Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin have denied any intent by China to install a military base in Solomon Islands, which is about 1,700km north-east of Cairns.
But the leaked draft agreement states there are provisions for Chinese police to help maintain social order and for Chinese naval vessels to replenish in the Solomons.
Mr Kenilorea Jr. said he is concerned about China's plans for the region.
"This has been the trend. The first thing that China did when they came in [to Solomon Islands] was they wanted to lease to logging the old capital of Solomon Islands. At least that was very interesting because it's a deepwater port. And the lease agreement had infrastructure, including oil depots and refineries.
"I think drawing a line from those, I can see that this agreement benefits definitely Beijing more than Solomon Islands. There are plans [China has], definitely. I think we're going to see increased activities in Solomon Islands now. But indeed there are issues that perhaps we should have addressed earlier."
Solomon Islands-China pact a 'major concern'
Malcolm Davis, a senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (partly funded by the Department of Defence), said the China-Solomon Islands deal was a "major concern" for Australia.
While the details of the pact have not been made public, indicated the deal could allow China to establish a military presence in the South Pacific.
Solomon Islands opposition MP Peter Kenilorea Jr. said the signed deal with China is not uniformly embraced by people within the Pacific nation. Credit: SBS News
The pact between the two nations has come under intense criticism from many quarters.
Earlier this month, .
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Australia explicitly urged Solomon Islands to not sign the deal, on 12 April.
Labor's foreign affairs spokesperson Penny Wong labelled the deal a "massive foreign policy failure on the prime minister's watch" on Wednesday, but Mr Scott Morrison defended the government’s response just hours later, saying
A geopolitical contest
Dr Davis said the Solomon Islands deal could be the start of a new age of Chinese military dominance in the South Pacific.
"We have to be extra vigilant and extra attentive to the South Pacific as a region, where we’re going to see a forward Chinese presence in the near future.
"Once established in the Solomon Islands, China could then seek to expand its influence in Papua New Guinea," Dr Davis said.
Mihai Sora – a Lowy Institute expert on Australian foreign policy in the Pacific – said the geography of the South Pacific is of key interest to China.
"The geography of the South Pacific makes it a very significant part of any geopolitical contest," he told SBS News.
"We saw a lot of that play out historically in World War Two. The geography in the Pacific hasn’t changed. There were fierce battles over the control of the Solomon Islands in World War Two and that region retains that strategic significance today," Professor Sora said.
Dr Davis said China is throwing "bags of money and basically buying out" small nations in the South Pacific.
"Essentially, what they’re doing is investing in these small states, getting them heavily indebted to China in what’s known as 'debt-trap diplomacy'.
"But any investment by China into these small states comes with rather large strings attached.
"China essentially uses financial inducements to gain the support of local officials. And from that point, it gains influence and presence, and ultimately control of key assets such as ports and airports,” he said.
Should Australia take a different approach?
Tess Newton Cain – project lead for the Pacific Hub at the Griffith Asia Institute – said "the biggest danger for Australia just now is that we see a devolvement into a lot of hysteria and overwrought rhetoric, which detracts from the main focus, which is on maintaining and sustaining a very important relationship" between Australia and Solomon Islands.
A display case of photos is seen outside the Chinese Embassy in Honiara, Solomon Islands, April 2, 2022. Australia’s Minister for International Development and the Pacific Zed Seselja flew to the Solomon Islands on Tuesday, April 12, 2022, in a bid prevent a China military presence in the South Pacific Island nation. Source: AAP / Charley Piringi/AP
"Relationships with countries such as Solomon Islands and others in the Pacific for Australia and for Australians shouldn't be about competing with China or with anyone else," Dr Newton Cain told SBS News.
"These are relationships that span decades and centuries of history ... and they should be at the forefront of foreign policy thinking for Australia.
"So rather than seeking to compete or outbid or outplay anyone else, it’s really about making sure that what Australia brings to the table is a deep and nuanced understanding and appreciation of Pacific ways of thinking and being, and a true commitment to the peoples of the Pacific to support them in their development and aspirational journeys," she said.
Professor Sora said there's a lot Australia could do in terms of greater economic integration with the Pacific.
"The Pacific wants to be globally connected to economic supply chains and to have access to global markets.
"Australia's relationships with Pacific Islands countries have traditionally been underpinned by development program by that aid relationship, which is really a one-way flow of support for the delivery of various social services," he said.
While that aid relationship is "tremendously important", the relationships between Australia and the Pacific Islands nations are lacking in the economic space, Professor Sora said.
"So [we should be] looking at what genuine trade and economic links we can establish with Pacific Islands countries beyond the support to social service delivery," he said.
Dr Davis agreed.
"We can’t use the same approach of [going] to these small states with bags of money.
"What we should be doing is offering Pacific Islands states a path towards peaceful development that leads to prosperity [as well as] to being part of a free and open Indo-Pacific region, as opposed to under the thumb of China.
Is Australia doing a good job of sending that message to the Solomon Islands at present?
"I think [we] could be doing a better job," Dr Davis said.
"The Morrison government talked about the Pacific step up as a key part of its policy towards the South Pacific.
"But I think it needs to lift its game and I think we need to do better in terms of engaging with the Pacific Islands states."
