Honiara (AFP) - US and Chinese diplomats fought for the affections of the Solomon Islands on Friday after the small island state shocked its Western allies by signing a defence pact with Beijing.
The United States and Australia -- the Pacific nation's traditional allies -- are deeply suspicious of the deal, fearing it may give China a military foothold in the South Pacific.
A White House delegation landed at the airport in the capital Honiara and was ferried into town in a white minibus, said an AFP correspondent at the scene, ahead of planned meetings with the government.
On the same day, China's ambassador to the Solomon Islands was not far away, attending a ceremony with Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare to hand over an elite, blue-coloured running track.
It is part of a China-funded national stadium complex, reportedly worth US$53 million, that will host the 2023 Pacific Games for the first time in the history of the Solomons, where many of the 800,000 citizens live in poverty.
"On behalf of the Chinese government and people of China, we congratulate the government of the Solomon Islands," said Chinese ambassador Li Ming, as he delivered the latest investment lavished by Beijing on a Pacific nation.
Beijing announced this week it had signed the undisclosed security pact with Honiara.
A draft of the pact shocked countries in the region when it was leaked last month, particularly measures that would allow Chinese naval deployments to the Solomons, which are located less than 2,000 kilometres (1,200 miles) from Australia.
'Lack of transparency'
Too late to stop the security deal with China, the White House said its diplomatic delegation was visiting Fiji, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands this week to "ensure our partnerships deliver prosperity, security and peace across the Pacific Islands and the Indo-Pacific".
The US diplomatic team -- led by the National Security Council's Indo-Pacific coordinator Kurt Campbell and assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs Daniel Kritenbrink -- landed in Honiara just three days after the security pact with China was announced.
"We are concerned by the lack of transparency and unspecified nature of this agreement, which follows a pattern of offering shadowy, vague deals with little regional consultation in fishing, resource management, development assistance, and now security practices," a State Department official told AFP in Washington this week.
"The reported signing does not change our concerns."
The Solomon Islands' leader says his government signed the deal "with our eyes wide open", but declined to tell parliament when the signed version will be made public.
Sogavare insists the pact will not lead to China building a military base in the Solomons, but this has done little to ease concerns in Washington and Canberra.
When asked about China's influence in the Pacific, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison told reporters Friday that Beijing was exerting "enormous pressure" on leaders of Pacific island nations.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian in turn accused "Australian politicians" of "coercive diplomacy" in the region.
Sogavare's government severed ties with Taiwan in September 2019 in favour of diplomatic relations with China, unlocking investment but stoking inter-island rivalries.
Last November, protests against Sogavare's rule sparked violent riots in the capital, during which much of the city's Chinatown was torched.
While the unrest was partly fuelled by poverty and unemployment, anti-China sentiment was also cited as playing a role.
