Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will visit Pacific island nations including the Solomons, weeks after Beijing and Honiara sealed a security pact that has stirred unease in Australia and the region.
Wang will also travel to Kiribati, Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea, as well as East Timor, during the trip from Thursday to June 4, China's foreign ministry said on Tuesday.
He will hold video meetings with officials from the Federated States of Micronesia, the Cook Islands and Niue, and host the second China-Pacific Islands Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Fiji, according to ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin.
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Wang Yi's one-day visit to Solomon Islands - with a delegation of nearly 20 - was first announced on Monday by Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare, who called the trip a "milestone" in the relationship.
The "highlight" would be the signing of a number of key bilateral agreements, Chinese ambassador Li Ming told Sogavare, according to a statement from the Solomon Islands government. It said the delegation would spend a day in Honiara attending high-level meetings.
Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare has said there will be no Chinese military base in Solomon Islands. Photo: AP alt=Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare has said there will be no Chinese military base in Solomon Islands. Photo: AP>
The visit comes as Beijing's security pact with Honiara has raised fears in the region that it could lead to a Chinese military presence in the Pacific island nation. It also comes after newly elected Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was sworn into office on Monday.
The security pact was among the hot-button issues in Australia's election campaign, when Albanese claimed Australia had become less safe in the wake of the agreement. Albanese said he would begin repairing Canberra's relationship with Honiara if elected.
Details of the pact - signed in April - have not been made public, but a leaked draft indicated that it would allow a Chinese naval deployment in Solomon Islands, raising alarm in the United States, Australia and New Zealand. Sogavare has said there will be no Chinese military base in the country.
Honiara on Sunday congratulated Albanese on his election win, with Sogavare saying the nation was grateful for Australia's financial, medical and security support over the years, adding "much, however, remains to be done". He also said Solomon Islands "remains Australia's steadfast friend and development partner of choice".