Recently Australia and New Zealand expressed security concerns over Communist China’s working with the Solomon Islands government on treaties having to do with economic development, police training, and a military base (see Chinascope briefing: China and the Solomon Islands Deepen their Police and Military Ties.
Sky News Australia obtained a letter from a large state-owned enterprise in China. It showed that Beijing planned to build a naval base in the Solomon Islands. It was dated back as early as 2020. The letter, dated September 29, 2020, was from China’s Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) International (AVIC-INTL) to former Governor of Isabel Province Leslie Kikolo. The first paragraph of the letter read:
“We, AVIC-INTL PROJECT ENGINEERING COMPANY, in partnership with CHINA SAM ENTERPRISE GROUP LTD, present this letter to demonstrate our intention to study the opportunity to develop naval and infrastructure projects on leased land for the People’s Liberation Army Navy in Isabel Province with exclusive right for 75 years.”
Source: Radio Free Asia, April 7, 2020
https://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/paper-04072022072039.html