Blinken: U.S. will ensure that there is no Chinese military base in the Solomon Islands

Blinken recalled that an American interdepartmental delegation had visited the Solomon Islands.

“The delegation met with the Prime Minister (Manasse Damukana Sogavare. -

).

He promised both publicly and privately that there would be no Chinese military base, no long-term (military) presence (PRC), no (deployment) means of force projection," the TASS secretary of state was quoted as saying.

The State Department will be "watching this very closely in the weeks and months ahead," he added.

On April 22, it became known that a US delegation arrived in the Solomon Islands, headed by a high-ranking official from the Joe Biden administration, Kurt Campbell.

The visit of US officials was connected with the recent signing of an agreement between the Solomon Islands and China in the field of security.

As Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison noted, the construction of a military base by China in the Solomon Islands will be a red line for Canberra and Washington.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry stressed that reports of a "Chinese military base" in the Solomon Islands are disinformation.