Defence Minister Peter Dutton defended the Australian government's handling of bilateral ties with Solomon Islands, saying numerous high-level communications were had between officials ahead of the signing of the security pact between the Pacific nation and China.
Labor has , such that despite a flurry of calls from the United States and its allies not to go ahead with the security deal, it was signed earlier this week.
The leaked draft agreement includes statements such as Solomon Islands may "request China to send police, armed police, military personnel and other law enforcement and armed forces" to be deployed to the Pacific country.
It also states that China's government may "make ship visits, to carry out logistical replenishment in, and have stopover and transition in Solomon Islands".
The US, Australia and New Zealand have expressed concern the pact would disrupt regional security, allowing Chinese naval vessels to replenish in Honiara.
New Zealand and Tonga have said they will raise the security deal at an upcoming meeting of Pacific Islands Forum leaders while Japan plans to send a vice foreign minister to the Solomon Islands this month over concerns about the security pact.
Mr Dutton said the Australian government has very real concerns about China setting up a military base on the Solomon Islands less than 2,000 km away from the Australian coast.
He told the Sky News Agenda program the Australian government is concerned by China’s "aggressive acts" in the region in recent years.
'Incredibly aggressive'
"The reality is that China has changed. China's incredibly aggressive, the acts of foreign interference, the preparedness to pay bribes to get an outcome... - that's the reality of modern China," he said.
"They’ve got a port in Sri Lanka, where they’ve taken that port back because the Sri Lankans couldn’t pay for the debt that they’d incurred from the Chinese in building that port.
"If you look at what’s happened in Africa, there are corrupt payments being made. We could never compete with that sort of playbook."
Labor's foreign affairs spokesperson Penny Wong said Australia's relationship with Solomon Islands has been damaged under the Coalition government over the last nine years.
"As much as the government wants to create fights and make accusations, and say this would have happened anyway, what I’d say is this: on their watch, this has happened," Ms Wong said.
"We are no longer the first partner of choice for a Pacific island nation and that is to the detriment of Australia’s position in our region."
China insists no plan to set up military base in Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare last week offered assurances to the Australian government that it had no intention of allowing a Chinese military base to be established in the country.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said the new security agreement it has with the Solomon Islands poses no risk to the United States and is about providing aid for natural disasters and humanitarian emergencies.
"Does the US view island nations as independent states with national sovereignty, or does it treat them as its appendants?" he asked earlier in the week.
Australian Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce said he is concerned about growing influence of China in the region.
"I just hope that China does not get the capacity to set up a naval base because it's obviously an intimidating tactic to Australia. They want to.
"There's no doubt about that because we see what they did in the South China Sea where they said they weren't going to militarise; and obviously for the Solomons I take their word, but I say be really careful to invite a totalitarian power into your country because it's going to affect your sovereignty."
Additional reporting: Reuters
