The White House’s top Asia official is preparing to travel to the Solomon Islands in a rare high-level visit that underscores alarm in Washington over the Pacific nation’s security pact with China.
Kurt Campbell will fly to the Solomon Islands this month, according to four people familiar with the plan. He is expected to travel with Daniel Kritenbrink, the top state department Asia official. Their visit comes as the small Pacific nation emerges as a strategic battleground between the US and China.
The US has been increasingly worried about the Solomon Islands since it switched diplomatic allegiance from Taipei to Beijing in 2019. Those concerns have intensified after the leak of a draft security pact that would give China a toehold in a part of the Pacific that is closer to Australia, New Zealand and Hawaii than to Beijing.
The draft agreement — which has not yet been signed — paves the way for China to deploy troops and police on the islands. It also says Chinese security personnel would guard any Chinese navy vessels that dock in the Solomon Islands.