A Chinese state-owned firm is investigating the purchase of a deep water port and a World War II-era airstrip and marine base in the Solomon Islands, according to new documents obtained by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
The China Forestry Group Corporation, undethe r direct control of Beijing, is scoping out acquisition targets, including a forestry plantation on the circle-shaped island of Kolombangara—the site of extensive fighting between the Allies and Imperial Japan during World War II.
The plantation covers two-thirds of the island and includes 14,000 hectares of hardwood forest, 24,000 hectares of protected forest, a deep water port, an old marine base, airstrip, and large tracts of flat land….