Re: Defence procurement bungles and wins
Reply #55 –
We cant compete with the handouts or the build China will offer in terms of infrastructure, the Chinese Renminbi has bought the Solomon islands off and thats the bottom line. Doesnt matter if it was the LP or ALP they were never going to fork out what the Chinese were offering in money and toys. The only hope was the USA showing some interest and its clear they have given up and conceded the Solomons to China and dont give a flying feck about their mates down under which doesnt bode well for Taiwan's future. Sogavare has looked after his own future and is just a puppet of China now and has sold out his people, good luck trying to vote him out next election thats if they ever have one.
In fact, according to the Lowy Institute, China's aid to Pacific nations is dwarfed by Australia's. However, we have significantly reduced our aid to the Solomon Islands and the CCP has stepped in to fill the gap.
The US has announced that it will be re-opening its embassy in the Solomons after a 29 year absence. I suspect that they realised that the "deputy" isn't up to the job.