Western pressure mounts on Solomons to quash pact with China

By ROD McGUIRK
Associated Press

CANBERRA, Australia: (AP) — Australia and the United States are stepping up diplomatic outreach to the Solomon Islands after China signed a security deal with the South Pacific island nation that could lead to Beijing establishing a military presence there. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Wednesday his minister for International Development and the Pacific met with Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare on the April 1 security pact the country signed with China, asking him to abandon the agreement. The talks came the same day that U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman spoke with Solomon Islands Foreign Minister Jeremiah Manele about Washington’s plan to reopen an embassy in the capital, Honiara.