fredag 22. april 2022

Why Australia and the US care so much about China's security pact with a tiny Pacific island nation

When China announced it had inked a security pact with a tiny Pacific island nation this week, there was little fanfare -- at least from Beijing. As China put it, it was a mutually beneficial agreement aimed at creating peace and stability in the Solomon Islands, a country with a population less than half the size of Manhattan that was rocked by violent protests last year.

But other countries saw it differently. To Australia, New Zealand and the United States, it was Beijing's latest power play in an ongoing struggle for influence in the Pacific -- a move that some claim threatens the very stability of the region. Speculation had mounted over what would be in the agreement after an unverified leaked draft of the deal appeared online last month.