Washington: In response to worries in Washington regarding the South Pacific archipelago's overtures to Beijing, the US embassy in the Solomon Islands reopened on Thursday, decades after it had been declared redundant.
According to the Associated Press, the mission in Honiara will be made up of a charge d'affaires, "a couple" of State Department employees, and "a handful" of locals. The reopening was described as a step to "counter China's push into the Pacific."
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a pre-recorded statement that Washington will be "better positioned" through its new embassy to advance democracy and "tackle shared challenges."
The Solomon Islands, which are located 1,800 kilometres northeast of Australia, last welcomed a US diplomatic mission in 1993, when the State Department made the decision to scale back because of the end of the Cold War. During the bloody Guadalcanal campaign of the Second World War, the US had a significant part to play in liberating the archipelago from Japanese occupation.
But in 2019, Honiara made the decision to switch its diplomatic ties with China from the exiled nationalists in Taiwan to the Communist leadership in Beijing. Guadalcanal saw riots as a result of the decision, with protesters setting fire to the prime minister's residence and targeting Chinese businesses.
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Honiara and China signed a security agreement in 2022, further raising concerns in the US and Australia. Reopening the embassy was a top priority, the State Department told Congress, because of China's "growing influence" and worries about a military buildup in the Solomon Islands.
The US had informed the Solomons that if China established a "permanent military presence, power-projection capabilities, or a military installation," Washington would have "significant concerns and respond accordingly."
While some commentators even advocated for invading the islands, the Australian government declared that any kind of Chinese naval base in the archipelago would be a "red line" for Canberra.
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Manasseh Sogavare, the prime minister of the Solomon Islands, responded to these worries by asserting that Australia continues to be his country's "security partner of choice" and giving assurances that no Chinese military installation would exist. He also stated that the security agreement with Beijing "had solely domestic applications."