Samoan Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata’afa has raised concerns about the potential for China and other foreign powers to use infrastructure projects in the Pacific as a pretext for establishing a military presence in the region. Her remarks come in the wake of Solomon Islands’ announcement that a Chinese state-owned company had won a contract to upgrade Honiara’s port with funding from the Asian Development Bank.
While noting that China is not the only major power seeking to expand its military access in the Pacific, Prime Minister Mata’afa emphasized that China’s security pact with Solomon Islands after the 2021 riots, which resulted in damage to Chinese-owned businesses, could set a concerning precedent.
“It was presented that China was wanting to bring in security personnel [to Solomon Islands] in a sense to protect those assets – physical and human,” she told reporters in Canberra.
“Now it occurred to me… that many countries, particularly in assistance projects, develop assets and have their personnel in receiving countries. Now is this going to be a trend where because one country has assisted and has assets, that this becomes an opportunity or a window by which security personnel come in?”
Both China and Solomon Islands have denied any plans for China to establish a military base in the country.