China is clearly in a hurry to expand its influence in the Pacific.

After signing a security agreement with the Solomon Islands, Beijing plans to hammer in more pegs in the coming days.

At a conference with ten island nations chaired by Foreign Minister Wang Yi, participants are expected to sign an agreement on police training, cybersecurity cooperation, data infrastructure and national security issues.

That's what it says in a draft that Beijing sent to the countries concerned.

The document was shared with several media outlets.

Friederike Böge

Political correspondent for China, North Korea and Mongolia.

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"China will hold middle and senior police training courses for Pacific island nations," said the paper, dubbed the "Common Development Vision."

Beijing promises to set up forensic laboratories.

Foreign Minister Wang Yi wants to accompany the planned agreement in the coming days with a marathon visit to seven Pacific countries.

On Thursday he arrived in the Solomon Islands.

Australia reacted with alarm.

According to the will of the Chinese leadership, the cooperation should also extend to data networks.

This may refer to efforts by a former subsidiary of Chinese group Huawei to provide undersea communications cables for the region.

A World Bank project for a cable that would run between Nauru and Guam was recently put on hold amid US security concerns.

Beijing's vaguely formulated "Common Development Vision" also envisages the creation of a free trade zone, cooperation in fisheries and the founding of Confucius Institutes.

Conference participants are expected to approve the document as part of the final communiqué.

Skepticism in Micronesia

In at least one of the countries involved, the advance is met with considerable resistance.

In a letter, the President of the Federated States of Micronesia, David Panuelo, called on the other participants not to support the initiative.

It pulls the countries "very deep within Beijing's radius and binds our entire economies and societies to them," he wrote, according to reports from the AP and Reuters news agencies.

He warned that the region could be drawn into a cold war between China and the United States.

Chinese control "over our communications infrastructure, our maritime territories and resources there, our security" undermines countries' sovereignty.

In addition, there are concerns that China could obtain bio-data via the exchange and monitor citizens on the islands.

Shortly after the first media reports on the Chinese advance were published on Wednesday, Australia's new foreign minister spoke up.

“China has made its motives clear.

The same goes for the intentions of the new Australian government,” said Penny Wong.

She shared that she will travel to Fiji on Thursday.

The minister only took office on Monday.

During the election campaign, she described Australia's failure to prevent the new security agreement between China and the Solomon Islands as her country's biggest foreign policy blunder since World War II.

According to their own statements, the two countries had signed the agreement in April shortly before the arrival of a high-ranking American delegation in the Solomon Islands.

However, there are no photos of it.

The American visitors, led by White House Indo-Pacific Coordinator Kurt Campbell, had originally hoped to change the mind of the Solomon Islands government.

The new framework agreement is confidential.

A draft of it had been made public by opponents of the pact.

The agreement allows Chinese police, soldiers and intelligence officials to be deployed at Solomon Islands' request, and Chinese military ships to call at the islands to resupply.

Australia fears China could establish a permanent military presence in the strategically important Solomon Islands, 2,000 kilometers off the Australian coast.

Beijing rejects that.

The American government expects China to seek a similar agreement with Kiribati, which Wang Yi also intends to visit in the next few days.

Like the Solomon Islands, Kiribati ended its diplomatic ties with Taiwan in 2019, turning to Beijing instead.

China is luring Taipei's few remaining allies with financial inducements in an attempt to oust Taiwan from the international arena.

Beijing's influence in the Pacific has grown with its direct investments in recent years.

According to the Brookings Institute, their volume has quintupled between 2013 and 2018 to $4.5 billion.

Wang Yi appeared before selected journalists in the Solomon Islands capital Honiara on Thursday.

Foreign media workers were barred from the event.

Only one question to the minister was permitted.

The invitation already stated who would ask this question: Chinese state television.

His response: China respects any Solomon Islands friendly relations with other countries in the world.