Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will lead a high-level delegation to the Solomon Islands to cement a recently signed security pact that will allow Beijing to station troops and weapons in the region.
Wang’s visit is expected to occur sometime in May and comes amid Australia’s ongoing federal election campaign (due to end on May 21), where the handling of relations with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has come under the spotlight.
Sources from The Australian newspaper and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation are concerned that Wang’s visit is deliberately timed to increase pressure on the incumbent Coalition government and Prime Minister Scott Morrison—who has been criticised heavily by the federal Labor Party opposition for failing to prevent the signing of the Beijing-Solomon Islands security pact.
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