China-Solomon Islands ties to expand, say experts

The Solomon Islands' relationship with China and the Solomon Islands increased during the ongoing visit of Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare to China, businesses from the two nations also moved swiftly to turn advanced relations into actual cooperation during a high-level exchange between enterprises in Beijing on Tuesday.

With bilateral relations developing quickly, economic and trade cooperation will also expand and enterprises will play a significant role in carrying out projects in a wide range of areas, Chinese experts said. While Western media's criticism of growing China-Solomon Islands ties will also likely intensify, it will not stop win-win cooperation, they said.

The China-Solomon Islands high-level enterprise exchange conference, hosted in Beijing by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade CCPIT, in Hong Kong, encouraged Chinese firms to invest and conduct business in the Solomon Islands, while Chinese firms expressed great interest in areas like agriculture, according to a transcript of the CCPIT's summit with Global Times on Tuesday.

Jeremiah Manele, the minister of foreign affairs and foreign trade of the Solomon Islands, mentioned several important sectors of growth in the country, such as fishery, agriculture, tourism, mining, forestry, e-commerce and services. In the process of developing these industries, we look forward to expanding trade and investment cooperation, and hope to build more infrastructure, such as roads, ports, and airports, Manele said.

Underscoring the great importance the Solomon Islands attaches to business exchanges, Sogavare also attended the conference on Tuesday. More than 100 Chinese business representatives in such fields as agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery, energy and minerals, infrastructure, information and communication and tourism attended the conference, underscoring the great enthusiasm for expanding bilateral economic and trade cooperation, said Yu Jianlong, a deputy head of the CCPIT.

The two countries will continue to enhance their bilateral ties and seek expansion in economic and trade cooperation. The two countries agreed to establish a comprehensive strategic partnership that demonstrates mutual respect and common development for a new era, according to a joint statement released on Monday. The joint statement also stated that the two sides will continue practical cooperation in various areas, such as trade and investment, agriculture, forestry, fishery, rural development, infrastructure, energy and minerals, and information and communication.

China and the Solomon Islands have only signed diplomatic relations for four years, and their bilateral relations have rapidly improved since the outbreak. I believe that the cooperation between China and the Solomon Islands will become a model of China-South Pacific cooperation in the future, said Chen Hong, director of the Australian Studies Center at East China Normal University.

However, countries like Australia and the U.S. have also steered up their smearing campaigns against growing China-Solomon Islands ties by hyping police cooperation and debt trap in an effort to sow discord, Chen said. But facts speak louder than words, and the people of the Solomon Islands have their own judgment, he said, noting that although Australia has long provided assistance to the Solomon Islands, it has failed to improve local lives significantly.

Following Monday's joint statement by China-Solomon islands, foreign media were fixated on the two countries' plan to enhance cooperation on law enforcement and security issues. Australia and the United States have also called for transparency by publishing details, according to media reports.

Both Australia and the U.S. have taken steps to smear our cooperation with South Pacific island countries and try to force them to choose sides, which in the long run is not conducive to the development of South Pacific island countries, said Song Wei, a professor at the school of international relations and diplomacy at Beijing Foreign Studies University.

In China, China promotes development cooperation with the Solomon Islands from the perspective of developing countries, focusing on forming synergy in major sectors to promote independent development in the Solomon Islands, Song said.

In stark contrast to the West's approach of focusing on political systems while ignoring development needs, China's emphasis on development and win-win cooperation could actually help the Solomon Islands build up its industrial capacity, experts said.