However much either side tempers their rhetoric, regional competition is the name of the game
Solomon Islands foreign minister Jeremiah Manele, left, and Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi during a ceremony to mark the establishment of diplomatic relations between Solomon Islands and China.Solomon Islands foreign minister Jeremiah Manele, left, and Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi during a ceremony to mark the establishment of diplomatic relations between Solomon Islands and China.
When you consider the extent of China’s global interests and the relatively small size of the Pacific countries, that tells you immediately that Beijing has ambitious long-term plans in the region.Wang’s trip will be a teachable moment in that respect, as the agreements signed along the way will provide a valuable roadmap of Beijing’s priorities and, to a degree, what the countries themselves are willing to sign on to.
Wong arrives in Fiji with Australia in good standing, largely due to the provisions of vaccines which allowed the tourism-dependent country to break the Covid lockdown and re-open to foreign travel. Needless to say, Herscovitch adds, this relatively friendly tone has not been matched by the “wolf warrior” diplomats who command the podium at the daily press briefings at the ministry of foreign affairs in Beijing.
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