中国との警察協力協定「脅威」でない　ソロモン諸島

【シドニーＡＦＰ＝時事】南太平洋の島国ソロモン諸島のマナセ・ソガバレ首相は１４日、中国との警察協力協定は太平洋地域に「脅威」をもたらすものではないと述べ、域内の緊張の高まりを懸念する西側諸国をけん制した。（写真は北京の人民大会堂で、中国の李強首相〈左〉と歓迎式典に臨むソロモン諸島のマナセ・ソガバレ首相）
　ソガバレ首相は今週、中国を訪問。ソロモン諸島への中国の警察要員の駐留期間を２０２５年まで延長するなど複数の合意文書に署名した。
　これに対し、米国、オーストラリア、ニュージーランドは懸念を表明。詳細を公表し、懸念を和らげるよう中国に求めた。ソロモン諸島政府はこれについて「わが国の主権と決定権を尊重すべきだ」と反発している。
　太平洋地域の貧困国の一つであるソロモン諸島は、中国とオーストラリアや米国の間で激化する覇権争いの中心に位置する。
　オーストラリアとの間で長年結ばれてきた安全保障協定は最近見直され、ソロモン諸島と中国の接近に懸念が高まっている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/07/14-15:59）

Solomon Islands said Friday that its policing pact with China posed no threat to the Pacific, rebuking Western powers who raised fears the deal could inflame regional tensions.
Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare inked a raft of deals during a trip to China this week, including an agreement allowing Beijing to extend its police presence in the developing Pacific nation until 2025.
The United States, Australia and New Zealand have expressed unease about the policing implementation plan, urging Beijing to soothe concerns by releasing more details.
In response, the Solomon Islands government declared that critics should respect our sovereignty and right to make our own decisions.
A spokesman for Sogavare said the pact would plug security gaps exposed by violent anti-government riots in November 2021, which destroyed large sections of the Chinatown district in the capital Honiara.
It would cover areas such as drone training, cybersecurity and the provision of vehicles and equipment, the spokesman added, saying the government failed to see how this was a threat to the Pacific region.
We have suffered enough because of these security gaps, the spokesman said in a statement.
The 2021 riots were partly fuelled by anger over China's growing sway in the Solomons, which in 2019 severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan in favour of Beijing.
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said she had raised her clear views on security in the Pacific with top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi, whom she met on the sidelines of an ASEAN summit overnight.
A spokesman for the US Embassy in neighbouring Papua New Guinea said there were concerns about the expansion of China's internal security and surveillance apparatus beyond its own borders.
Sogavare, who has repeatedly stressed his country is friends to all, raised eyebrows when he arrived in Beijing earlier this week and told Chinese officials I am back home.
Solomon Islands, one of the poorest countries in the Pacific, sits at the centre of an escalating tug-of-war as China vies for regional influence with Australia and the United States.
Australia's own longstanding security pact with the Solomons was recently put under review, stoking fears the island nation was drifting closer to China's orbit.