A bit more troubling news .... in the Pacific. I really don't know if this is off topic or not.
Solomon Islands has signed a policing deal with China and will send a proposal for a broader security agreement covering the military to its cabinet for consideration.
According to a copy of the draft security agreement circulating on social media on Thursday, it would allow
China to base navy warships in the Pacific, less than 2,000km off Australia’s coast.
The arrangements are also likely to worry the United States, which said in February it would open an embassy in Solomon Islands after senior US administration officials expressed concern China wanted to create military relationships in the
Pacific islands.
Australia has a bilateral security agreement with Solomon Islands, covering the deployment of police and armed forces, signed in 2018.
Australia’s minister for home affairs, Karen Andrews, told reporters on Thursday the Pacific was Australia’s “back yard”, when asked about the possibility of the Chinese military operating in Solomon Islands.
“In relation to China, in relation to the Pacific region, that is our back yard, that is our neighbourhood, and we are very concerned about any activity that is taking place in the Pacific islands,” she said.
China finalising security deal with Solomon Islands to base warships in the Pacific