China-Solomon Islands Security Pact: Implications in Maritime Domain

Abstract

In April 2022, China and the Solomon Islands concluded a security pact to cement the political foundation of their relations by primarily supporting each other's sovereignty, integrity, maritime protection, and development of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The security pact has impacted not only China and the Solomon Islands, but also the US dominance of Oceania in particular and the Indo-Pacific in general. The security pact will not only allow Beijing to strengthen itselfin the Indo-Pacific Oceans against the diminishing infiuence of the US, but it will also allow Beijing to strengthen its position in the Atlantic Ocean to further trap the already-trapped US. Following the US Island Chain Strategy, under which the US established three island chains in the Pacific Ocean to check the Chinese and Russian expansion after World War II, China now has the capability and capacity to establish a 4500 km-long island chain in the Atlantic Ocean from the Azores to Trinidad, which will assist it in creating a global balance for economic and social development through blue diplomacy.