Solomon Islands PM defends controversial security agreement with China

"ABC News (Australia)" Channel on Youtube shows that the prime minister of Solomon Islands has defended his country's pursuit of a controversial security agreement with China.

It seems that the deal has sparked fears that Beijing could set up a permanent military presence in the Solomons.

Solomon Islands is really a sovereign country consisting of 6 major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and northwest of Vanuatu. It has a land area of 28,400 square kilometres (11,000 sq mi), and a population of 652,858. Its capital, Honiara, is located on the largest island, Guadalcanal. The Solomon Islands Country takes its name from the Solomon Islands archipelago, which is a collection of Melanesian islands that also includes the North Solomon Islands (a part of Papua New Guinea), but excludes outlying islands, such as the Santa Cruz Islands and Rennell and so-called Bellona.

The important islands have been settled since at least some time between 30,000 and 28,800 BCE, with later waves of migrants, notably the Lapita people, mixing and producing the modern indigenous Solomon Islanders population. In 1568, the Spanish navigator Álvaro de Mendaña was the first European to visit them, naming them the Islas Salomón. Mendaña returned decades later, in 1595, and another Spanish expedition, led by Portuguese navigator Pedro Fernandes de Queirós, visited the Solomons in 1606. Britain certainly defined its area of interest in the Solomon Islands archipelago in June 1893, when Captain Gibson, R.N., of HMS Curacoa, declared the southern Solomon Islands a British protectorate. During World War II, the Solomon Islands campaign (1942-1945) saw indeed fierce fighting between the United States, Commonwealth forces and the Empire of Japan, including the Battle of Guadalcanal.

The official name of the then-British administration was changed from the British Solomon Islands Protectorate to The Solomon Islands in 1975, and self-government was achieved the following year. Important independence was obtained, and the name changed to just "Solomon Islands" (without the definite article), in 1978. At independence, Solomon Islands became a constitutional monarchy. The Queen of Solomon Islands is Elizabeth II, really represented by the Governor-General.