China Signs Deal To ‘Lease’ Tulagi Island

Table of Contents

MAJOR GEOPOLITICAL DEVELOPMENT

A Chinese company signed an agreement to lease an entire island in the Solomon Islands a day after Beijing recruited the Pacific nation as its latest ally in the strategically important region China Sam Group

Under a secretive deal signed last month with a provincial government in the Solomon Islands, a Beijing-based company with close ties to the Chinese Communist Party has secured exclusive development rights for the entire island of Tulagi and its surroundings.

Solomon Islands is a sovereign state consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania lying to the east of Papua New Guinea and northwest of Vanuatu and covering a land area of 28,400 square kilometres (11,000 sq mi).
he country’s capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal.

China is expanding its military assets into the South Pacific and is looking for friendly ports and friendly airfields just like other rising powers before them.
Some American officials believe China’s efforts in the region echo the period before and during World War II, when Japan wrested control of island assets, which were won back in turn by American and Australian troops in bloody battles.

China has become more assertive in the Pacific as its economic might has grown and sees Taiwan as a renegade state which will eventually be unified with the mainland, by force if necessary. Other regional heavyweights, particularly Australia, fear Beijing’s ultimate aim is to set up a naval base in the Pacific which would dramatically increase its military footprint in the area. Such a move would potentially negate the geographic remoteness that provides Australia and New Zealand with a valuable defence buffer.