Australian intelligence services decided to encourage a leak from within the Solomons as a last resort when diplomatic approaches had not worked.
had been in the works for months and decided to encourage a leak from within the Solomons as a last resort.
Sogavare spent Friday morning meeting with China’s ambassador where he praised the “first fruit” of the China-Solomons relationship. “[The relationship] has consolidated in such a short period of time with trust, respect and a genuine desire to achieve long-term sustainable development outcomes for our small nation,” he said.
Labor campaign spokesman Jason Clare suggested the issue could have been addressed previously by “picking up the phone, talking to people.” The involvement of an Australian intelligence agency raises further questions over how much Morrison and his ministers knew about the document before it was publicly released and the decision to encourage a leak against one of its most important regional partners.
“And I think you would be surprised if I were to speak one way or the other about those issues. And no one should take from that any meaning whatsoever. I mean, these are highly sensitive matters.”
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