The Solomon Islands said on Tuesday (July 16) that the government's budget received $ 20 million (about S $ 26.89 million) injection in China.This shows that the Beijing plan has strengthened its strategic foothold in the region.
According to Agence France -Presse, the Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manella announced the above funding after talking to Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing.Manella said that China also promised to support the Solomon Islands to expand the only international airport in China.
Since breaking diplomatic relations with Taiwan in 2019 and the establishment of diplomatic relations with mainland China, the Solomon Islands is the most public supporter of China in the South Pacific Island.
China also provides assistance to the Solomon Islands in terms of infrastructure construction, including building a new major stadium in the Solomon Islands capital, the most advanced sanitary facilities, mobile phone signal towers and highways.
The Manella office issued a statement on Tuesday saying: "Since the establishment of bilateral partnerships with China five years ago, China has given assistance in reforming projects to allow the relationship between the two sides to grow strong."
The Solomon Islands have two closely related security partners Australia and the United States, which also provided the country with the same amount of budget funding in the past.
The former Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands Sogovre also fully supported Beijing, thereby allowing China to quickly expand its interests in the South Pacific region.In 2022, Sogovre and the Chinese government signed a security agreement, which made Western countries quite concerned.
Sogovre's successor, Manelai, expressed his willingness to re -contact with Canberra and Washington, and also stated that he intended to deepen his relationship with China.
