Kushagra Bansal – Mumbai Uncensored, 5th May 2022
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Australia will reply calmly to the Solomon Islands after signing a security pact with China, dismissing the Pacific nation’s leader’s enraged response to Western criticism of the accord.
Solomons Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare declared in a heated speech in the parliament on Tuesday that “we are threatened with invasion,” but he did not mention any countries or provide proof to back up his allegation.
“None of that is accurate,” Morrison responded to a reporter’s question on Thursday.
Defence Minister Peter Dutton said he didn’t believe the remarks were meant at Australia, which was stationed in the Solomon Islands at Sogavare’s request. “I understand Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare’s current pressures, but as he stated, he has found a strong ally in Australia,” Dutton said. “We haven’t been asked to withdraw,” he added.
The security accord has become a key election issue for Morrison, who has been accused by opposition parties of making Australia “less safe” and of his government’s diplomatic failures. Western allies are worried that it could serve as a launching pad for a Chinese military presence in the Pacific.
The opposition Labor Party claimed in an election debate on Thursday that Australia’s relationship with the Solomon Islands had worsened, and that the country needed to engage more in Pacific diplomacy rather than only increase defence spending.
Brendan O’Connor, Labor’s defence spokesman, said, “They have failed the art of statecraft.”
Although the agreement’s terms have yet to be revealed, Sogavare has ruled out a military installation and stated that the arrangement covers policing to protect Chinese investments because an agreement with traditional partner Australia was “inadequate.”
Sogavare chastised Australia for referring to the Pacific as their “backyard,” claiming that the term was demeaning in local culture, since backyards are used to house chickens, pigs, and garbage.
Morrison told Nine Network’s Today show, “We’ll work constructively and patiently, and we’ll work in a professional and calm manner.”
