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China is close to confirming an unprecedented security agreement with the Solomon Islands, located 2,000 km off the Australian coast.
Documents obtained and verified by broadcaster ABC show that the agreement will allow the Chinese to send warships to the region.
The text also gives the archipelago the right to request the presence of “armed police, military members of the armed forces and task forces for maintenance of order” that would be responsible for “ensuring the protection of life and property, providing humanitarian assistance and responding to disasters”.
Australia reacted to the news with irritation. Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Australian Home Secretary Karen Andrews called the Pacific region “our backyard” and said she was concerned about “any [da China] taking place on neighboring islands.
Canberra maintains close ties with the archipelago’s government and has provided military support on several occasions, even sending a 14-year policing mission there (2003-2017).
This is the Solomon Islands’ most significant diplomatic move with the Chinese in history. The region maintained diplomatic relations with Taiwan, but decided to cut ties and recognize mainland China as the territory’s sole sovereign. The decision nearly cost Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare his job (in the end, he defeated a no-confidence vote and blamed “Taiwanese spies” for the crisis).
China has not yet commented on the matter, but Solomon Islands Police Minister Anthony Veke confirmed to Reuters that he had signed a memorandum of understanding with China’s Ministry of Public Security for police cooperation.
why it matters: This may be the Chinese’s most assertive advance against Australia to date. Beijing has already shown irritation since October last year, when Canberra announced that it had signed an agreement with the US and the UK to build nuclear submarines in the country.
The relationship between Chinese and Australians has been deteriorating for years, but worsened after the outbreak of the pandemic after Prime Minister Scott Morrison insisted on an independent investigation into the origin of Covid in Wuhan. Since then, Beijing has banned or surcharged Australian exports and has limited diplomatic contacts with the Oceanian country.
what also matters
Emergency response teams announced they had found one of the black boxes and parts of the Chinese plane’s engine.
According to the Civil Aviation Administration of China (an agency similar to Anac in Brazil), the black box of the China Eastern Airlines plane, which crashed this week in Guangxi province (south of the country), has cockpit voice records. The recording material was sent to Beijing and will be analyzed by experts. An evaluation of the engine can provide clues about possible collisions with objects or technical failures during the flight.
There were 132 people on board the aircraft, which plummeted about 30,000 feet (more than 9,000 meters) in a few minutes, according to radar records. There are no signs of survivors so far, but the search continues.
Criticized for the inability to contain Covid in Hong Kong, Chief Executive Carrie Lam is at risk of losing her job.
Cheng Yuet-ngor is a lawyer and part of the pro-Beijing bloc. He has been criticizing Lam’s response to the crisis for some time and this week said he was considering moving a no-confidence motion against her. If it goes ahead, this would be the first such lawsuit in Hong Kong’s history since the city’s return to China in 1997.
Yuet-ngor told the press that he “is disgusted with the face” of Lam and criticized her for abandoning the idea of ​​mass testing for Covid. He asked residents to mobilize to put pressure on her and demanded government planning.
So far, the idea of ​​a motion has met resistance in the Legislative Council, where pro-Beijing majority deputies have dismissed their colleague’s remarks as a sign of “betrayal”, according to local media.
keep an eye
Hong Kong has announced that it will start easing the arrival of international travelers, in a major shift from the strategy it has been working on to open borders with mainland China. Until then banned, flights from the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and the Philippines will be allowed to land in the city from April. The mandatory 14-day quarantine will drop to 7, although proof of Covid vaccination is still required.
why it matters: With the advancement of the omicron variant, Carrie Lam is showing signs of throwing in the towel.
- it is estimated that half of Hong Kong residents became infected with the new coronavirus in the current wave of contagions;
- the territory’s chances of zeroing the number of cases is practically nil.
With no alternatives and gradually losing its position as a world economic hub, the city shows signs that it will need to prioritize opening up with the rest of the world before being able to reestablish the transit of people with mainland China.
to go deep
- The Center for Global Studies and China at PUC Minas will hold the inaugural class of the specialization in Contemporary China next Thursday (31), an unprecedented initiative in Brazil. The event will be online and will be attended by Professor Evandro Menezes de Carvalho talking about Chinese governance. More information here. (free, in Portuguese)
- Part of the “China on the Move” series, the Brazil-China Business Council (CEBC) welcomes specialists next Tuesday (29) to discuss the energy transition in the Asian country and possible opportunities for cooperation with Brazil. Registration is now open. (free, in Portuguese)
- Palgrave Macmillan has released the book “Brazil-China Relations in the 21st. Century”, signed by the sinologist and professor at UERJ, MaurÃcio Santoro. The work is the result of almost two years of research on the subject and is available in physical and digital versions (paid, in English)
