Prime Minister Scott Morrison stopped talking to Manasseh Sogavare over concerns the Solomon Islands Prime Minister would become volatile and misrepresent the conversation.
, fearing it could pave the way for a permanent Chinese military presence in the Pacific island nation and criticising the Chinese government for insisting the text of the agreement be kept secret.
He said Sogavare “has had a number of views about the relationship with Australia over a long period of time”. This was due to Sogavare’s history of being volatile towards Australia and the assessment that no intervention was going to persuade him not to sign the deal with Beijing.
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