Fiamē weighed in on the Honiara port contract when she held a press conference in Canberra after her meeting with the prime minister, Anthony Albanese. The Samoan prime minister said it was important to recognise “the sovereign rights of countries to make decisions”.
But she suggested it was too soon to establish whether there would be a military dual-purpose behind the development. Senior US and Chinese representatives have visited Solomon Islands this week in a sign of the increasing contest for influence in the Pacific. The prime minister of Solomon Islands, Manasseh Sogavare, met the vice-chairman of the China International Development Cooperation Agency, Tang Wenghong, on Monday.
On Tuesday, Sogavare welcomed a US delegation led by the White House’s top Indo-Pacific coordinator, Kurt Campbell. This follows the reopening of the US embassy in Honiara in early February.