Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has warned that the construction of a military base by China in Solomon Islands, within the framework of the security agreement signed with Beijing, would be a “red line” already contemplated by regional countries and also by the United States.
“This is a shared concern, not only for Australia, it is Australia and regional governments, particularly places like Fiji and Papua New Guinea,” he said, adding that, by working together with partners, they share the same red line expressed earlier by Washington, as reported by ABC.
Morrison, who spoke at a press conference this Sunday in the city of Darwin, said that the determination to prevent the construction of a Chinese naval base on the island is not only shared by the United States, but also by the country's prime minister, Manasseh Sogavare.
However, the prime minister has remained silent about questions from journalists about what actions they would take if such a possibility arose, as reported by the Bloomberg news agency.
Following these statements, opposition defence spokesman Brendan O'Connor has reported that he will request a briefing from the Australian Government on what it would do if China crossed this “red line”.
“We need to be informed about what the government is contemplating beyond those terms. The words used (by Morrison) obviously sound relatively exaggerated,” Labor pointed out in an interview, as reported in the newspaper 'Canberra Times'.
China and Solomon Islands signed a controversial security agreement viewed with suspicion by both neighboring Australia and the United States, which has warned that the pact opens the door to a hypothetical deployment of Chinese troops in the archipelago.
At this critical juncture, the United States and Solomon Islands have agreed to initiate a high-level strategic dialogue aimed at “improving communication, addressing mutual concerns and driving practical progress.”
Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne denounced the “lack of transparency” surrounding this agreement, even though Prime Minister Sogavare has insisted that his government would never authorize the construction of a Chinese military base.
In addition to Canberra's concern is that of Washington, which, by the mouth of State Department spokesman Ned Price, warned that “such an agreement could increase destabilization within Solomon Islands and set a worrying precedent for the Indo-Pacific region”.
(With information from Europa Press)
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