Muristek
‘Extremely irresponsible’: China hits back at Australia over Solomon Islands deal
China has hit back at Australia after concerns were raised over a potential military deal with the Solomon Islands. Prime Minister Scott Morrison insisted he wasn’t blindsided by the move. The deal would see China dramatically increase its military presence in the Indo-Pacific region with a potential base on the Solomon Islands for its defence forces, which would see warships stationed just 2,000km from Australia’s coastline. After concerns were raised from politicians on both sides within Australia, the Solomon Islands government defended the move whilst China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson labelled Australia as being “irresponsible”. “We hope that the parties concern will look at it objectively and calmly and not overinterpret it,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said. “Some politicians on the Australian side have published some fallacies of so-called Chinese coercion and deliberately created an atmosphere of tension, which is extremely irresponsible and does not help regional stability and development.”
Most Read