During the current election campaign, Australia's Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, presented national security and regional uncertainty as one of his electoral trump cards. In particular, he called for an independent inquiry into the origins of COVID-19 and for using the world stage to call out China's economic coercion. And now, China has responded by signing a security pact with the Solomon Islands.
China has been looking for a foothold in the South Pacific region for many years, and it has established a basis on which it could potentially build a Chinese naval base in the South Pacific. Woht this agreement, this base would be within 1600 kilometres of the Australian coastline.
The opposition has called the handling of the issue the greatest Australian foreign policy blunder in the Pacific since World War II. This is a somewhat hyperbolic assessment but understandable given the pressure-cooker atmosphere of an election campaign and how the Australian Prime Minister has used China policy as an election sword against them.
This issue has added spice to the election campaign, and both sides want to blame the other for the mess. Whoever wins the election will have to work closely with other South Pacific nations to stymy reach.