Disruption for the US in the Pacific: the Solomon Islands deny access to a US military ship
The US Coast Guard announced in a statement that his ship, USCG Oliver Henry, was denied a "routine logistical call" by the Solomon Islands government. The US statement did not indicate the exact day on which the stopover request was denied.
Authorities "did not respond to the US government's request for diplomatic clearance that would allow the ship to refuel and store supplies" in the capital Honiara, the Coast Guard said, an authorization that had been easily granted in previous years. The vessel would have been on patrol in South Pacific waters looking for illegal fishing vessels at the request of a regional fisheries agency.
Following the denial, somewhat unprecedented and now widely interpreted as a sign of increased security and cooperation ties with China, the State Department said it has warned the Solomon Islands and expects that in the future "all future authorizations will be provided to US ships ”. The Coast Guard cutter was also described as "part of a southbound patrol to assist partner nations in upholding and affirming their sovereignty while protecting US national interests."
Currently, the US and Chinese navies are struggling to assert conflicting views of what constitutes territorial waters versus international waters in the South China Sea and other parts of the South Pacific. The issue is particularly tense right now in the vicinity of Taiwan.
As for the Taiwan issue, and a huge indicator of China's growing influence over the Solomons, which has been going on for years, the tiny island country has changed its diplomatic relations and formal recognition from Taipei and Beijing starting in 2019. Officials Americans have also closely witnessed the outbreak of large-scale and sometimes violent anti-corruption protests in 2021, which many observers say were sparked by Beijing's growing influence in the country's internal affairs.
All of this paved the way for what Western officials and pundits called a "secret" April 1 security pact, summarized and described by the US government institution and think tank United States Institute of Peace as follows:
A leaked draft of a security agreement between the Solomon Islands and China has raised concern over the island nation's turn to China. In late April, Washington sent a high-level delegation to the island, just days after China said the pact had been signed and would "step up engagement in the region."
The United States and its regional partners, notably Australia and New Zealand, are concerned about the potential presence of Chinese military bases on the islands, although the details of the deal remain vague, which in itself is a cause for concern. . As part of its Indo-Pacific Strategy, the Biden administration aims to promote a free and open Indo-Pacific, a goal that could be complicated by the prospect of a new China deal with the Solomon Islands.
Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare tried to reassure his people (and Western leaders) in mid-July statements, stating that there is no intention of allowing a Chinese military base in his country, which could make "Our people a target for potential military attacks," as happened among world powers during World War II.
On that occasion, however, he declared that he was willing to deploy Chinese security personnel on the islands acting as part of a peacekeeping mission, in the event that the "preferred security partner", Australia, does not is able to meet these commitments.
The Solomons are another example of the progressive loss of US influence even in areas that they considered their backyard, such as the Pacific. This Chinese infiltration then directly affects the country closest to the USA in the area, namely Australia, which exercised a quasi-protectorate over these lands which, however, is now increasingly difficult to exercise.
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The article Smacco for the USA in the Pacific: the Solomon Islands deny access to a US military ship comes from ScenariEconomici.it .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/smacco-per-gli-usa-nel-pacifico-le-isole-salomone-negano-laccesso-a-nave-militare-usa/ on Mon, 29 Aug 2022 08:00:10 +0000.