The prime minister, Scott Morrison, has fended off accusations that he is responsible for “the worst Australian foreign policy failure” in the Pacific since the end of the second world war after the Solomon Islands struck a new security pact with China.
Labor has seized on the new agreement as evidence that Australia has been asleep at the wheel while China has cemented its influence in the region, with leader Anthony Albanese saying more should have been done to prevent it from going ahead.
The Coalition last week dispatched the minister for the Pacific, Zed Seselja, to Honiara, where he “respectfully” asked the Solomon Islands prime minister, Manasseh Sogavare, to consider not signing the proposed security agreement with China.
But his appeal fell on deaf ears, with Sogavare confirming to the country’s parliament on Wednesday that the pact had been signed, but saying he did not believe it would affect the “peace and harmony of our region”.
Morrison defended sending Seselja instead of the foreign minister, Marise Payne, who Sky News reported was hosting a fundraiser in Sydney at the time.
“The judgement was made not to engage at a foreign-minister level engagement to ensure that Australia’s views were communicated very clearly and very respectfully,” Morrison said.
“I’m very conscious of how visits are perceived within the Pacific. This was the right, calibrated way to address this issue with the prime minister.
“One of the things you don’t do in the Pacific is you don’t throw your weight around. They’re a sovereign country and we have to respect their sovereignty.”
But Albanese said Australia’s relationship with the Solomon Islands was of crucial strategic importance and criticised the government for failing to act after being warned last August that the deal was imminent.
“No visit from the foreign minister, no visit from the defence minister, no engagement in a serious way with prime minister Sogavare,” Albanese said.
“Whether it’s the bushfires, whether it’s ordering enough vaccines, whether it’s ordering rapid antigen tests, whether it’s responding to the floods, this prime minister is complacent. He’s always there for the photo-op, never there for the follow-up, never does the right planning to get ahead of issues.”
The Solomon Islands opposition leader, Matthew Wale, told the ABC last month that he had warned Australian officials in August last year about the potential deal and was disappointed in the response.
Wale is now calling for Sogavare to make public the text of the agreement, which the US has criticised as a “shadowy deal” that had been struck with little regional consultation.
Under sustained questioning about the government’s approach to the Solomon Islands deal on Wednesday, Morrison said the move by China was not a surprise to the government.
“What it highlights is there is always incredible pressure on Pacific nations that comes from China seeking to undermine the security of the region ... so we have focused very much on the Pacific because we know the risks, and I think what we have seen there highlights those risks,” the prime minister said.
“We can’t always prevent them in all circumstances, [and] the sort of pressure and influence that has been seeking to be exerted in our region is very real.
“That’s why for many, many years now we have been seeking to resist this, and had we not done that then I fear that we would have seen even more significant events take place.”
At a later press conference, Morrison also sought to turn criticism back to Labor, saying the opposition had been “very passive” when it came to the risk presented by China and our region.
“They have been very critical of the government, they have been very critical of me personally in the strong stand that I have taken in relation to China’s influence, not just in Australia but across the Pacific.”
Australia and its allies are concerned that the new agreement, which gives China the right to protect its investments in the region, will pave the way for a military base to be established in the region, less than 2,000km from Australia’s coastline.
While Sogavare has explicitly ruled that out, this has done little to ease the fears of security officials in Canberra and in Washington.
On Monday, the White House said a high-level US delegation, including Indo-Pacific coordinator Kurt Campbell, would travel to Honiara this week to discuss concerns about China, as well as the reopening of a US embassy.
In a statement on Wednesday, the US embassy in Canberra said that it was concerned that the agreement could undermine a “free and open” Indo Pacific.
“In particular, we have concerns over the agreement’s lack of transparency, as well as its apparently vague and expansive provisions.”
Visiting Singapore, the New Zealand prime minister, Jacinda Adern, said that while the Solomon Islands was free to make its own sovereign decisions, it had previously agreed through the Pacific Island forum to discuss defence matters before making such decisions.
“We have continued to reiterate with the Solomons and China our view alongside the Pacific: that collectively we are ready and available to meet the security needs of our neighbours,” Ardern said.
“We are concerned about the militarisation of the Pacific and we continue to call on the Solomons to work with the Pacific with any concerns around their security they may have.”
But Sogavare told Parliament that the deal would allow it to “build up and strengthen our police capability” to deal with any future instability.
“The Solomon Islands-People’s Republic of China security cooperation is based on mutual respect for sovereignty and in compliance with domestic and international law,” he said.
“Let me assure the people of Solomon Islands that we entered into an arrangement with China with our eyes wide open, guided by our national interests.”
