China says it has signed security pact with Solomon Islands

Chinaon Tuesday confirmed it has sealed a wide-rangingsecuritypactwith theSolomonIslands, an agreement Western governments fear could give Beijing a military foothold in the South Pacific.

"The foreign ministers ofChinaand theSolomonIslandsofficiallysignedthe framework agreement onsecuritycooperation recently," foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a regular press briefing.

A draft version of the agreement, leaked last month, sent shockwaves across the region over provisions allowing Chinese security and naval deployments to the crisis-hit Pacific island nation.

According to the draft, armed Chinese police could be deployed at theSolomonIslands' request to maintain "social order".

Solomons Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare's assurances that he does not intend to allowChinato build a military base there has done little to alleviate concerns in Washington.

"The broad nature of thesecurityagreement leaves open the door for the deployment of PRC military forces to theSolomonIslands," US State Department spokesman Ned Price said Monday.

The signing of thepact"could increase destabilisation within theSolomonIslandsand will set a concerning precedent for the wider Pacific Island region", he added.

The White House is sending a high-level delegation to theSolomonIslandsthis week to discuss its concerns as well as the reopening of the US embassy in the former British protectorate's capital, Honiara.

Earlier this month, Australian Minister for International Development and the Pacific Zed Seselja travelled to Honiara to ask the prime minister in person not to ink the deal.

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Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang on Tuesday accused Western powers of "deliberately exaggerating tensions" over thepact.

Securitycooperation betweenChinaand theSolomonIslandsis "normal exchange and cooperation between two sovereign and independent countries," he said.

The United States and its Asian allies have voiced growing concern aboutChina's assertiveness in the Pacific, where it is locked in several territorial disputes with neighbouring countries.

TheSolomonIslands, a World War II battlefront, recognisedChinaonly in 2019 after switching from ties with Taiwan, a self-governing democracy that Beijing claims.

The island nation of 800,000 has been wracked by political and social unrest, and many of its people live in poverty.

In November, protesters tried to storm the parliament and went on a deadly three-day rampage, torching much of Honiara's Chinatown.

The unrest was sparked by opposition to Sogavare's rule and fuelled by unemployment, while anti-Chinasentiment also played a role.