Solomon sign US-led Pacific deal following historic summit: After giving early signals that it might decline, the Solomon Islands joined 13 other Pacific Island countries in signing a comprehensive collaboration pact sponsored by the US.
Following the first-ever meeting between the president of the United States and the heads of every significant Pacific country. The White House unveiled the ten-point US-Pacific Partnership agreement on Thursday evening.
It contains pledges to take more aggressive action on issues including climate change, economic growth, and security cooperation.
More than $810 million already pledged by US Vice President Joe Biden to the new Pacific effort. “Over the coming years and decades, much of our globe’s history will write in the Indo-Pacific. And the Pacific Islands have a key voice,” said Biden.
The arrangement is comparable in scope and tone to one that the Chinese government tried to make with Pacific countries in May. But that was eventually rejected by regional leaders, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
The head of the Pacific Islands Forum said Beijing didn’t give leaders enough time to think in July.
The Solomon Islands government reportedly notified other Pacific Island nations it wouldn’t join the US accord.
Manasseh Sogavare, the Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands, stood to Biden’s left during a group portrait taken after the conference.
The FBI and State Department will train law enforcement in the Pacific nation and create an embassy, according to the White House.
The Chinese government’s influence in the Pacific has grown over the last year. And the US and Australia have increased diplomatic activities in the area in response. Beijing scored a significant diplomatic victory when it announced in April that China and the Solomon Islands had reached a security pact.