China’s mission creep in the Pacific rattles Australia

Fears that China is attempting to militarize the Solomon Islands have alarmed Australia despite claims that the recent draft ‘security pact’ would not lead to a Chinese base there. In the past China has established 20 points of military presence in the South China Sea despite telling the USA it would not militarize the region.  The Solomon Islands, an impoverished nation located 2,000 kilometres (1,200 miles) east of Australia, home to under a million inhabitants, was given inde