China's ambassador to the Solomon Islands Li Ming (right), and Solomons Prime Pinister Manasseh Sogavare (left) lead the ribbon-cutting ceremony of a China-funded national stadium complex in Honiara on April 22. The stadium complex, reportedly worth $53 million, will host the 2023 Pacific Games for the first time in the island state of 800,000 people. Photo: AFP

As the US and Australia picked blue economy cooperation pact between China and the Solomon Islands as a new target to hype the "China threat" after attacks on an earlier security pact, observers say Washington and Canberra show a mentality of "colonizers" - trying to manipulate South Pacific countries and contain China's development space.

Australia is bound tightly to the US' Indo-Pacific Strategy and serves as a key pillar of the structure in the South Pacific. In this regard, Canberra is comfortable  being an overlord in the region and cares nothing about the development interests of the Solomon Islands, experts said.

According to The Australian, a leaked draft of the blue economy cooperation pact stated China and the Solomon Islands will maintain a mutually beneficial, win-win development partnership and encourage companies to undertake investment cooperation in the blue economy.

The investments are set to include "port wharves, submarine optimal cable construction, shipbuilding and ship repair and ocean transportation", as well as "exploration and development of offshore oil, gas and mineral resources," Australian media claimed. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison expressed concerns over "Chinese interference and intrusion" when asked to comment on the pact.  

The Chinese Embassy in the Solomon Islands on Wednesday issued a statement, saying China has market, capital and technology edges, and the Solomon Islands is rich in agriculture, forestry, fishery and touristic resources. The economies of the two countries are highly complementary and have great potential for cooperation. 

China is willing to share its experience with the Solomon Islands to help the country enhance an independent and sustainable development, the embassy spokesperson said.

The Solomon Star, a leading daily of the Pacific island country, cited a government statement as saying nothing is sinister or trivial in the blue economy memorandum of understanding (MOU) which has yet to be formalized. 

The Solomon Islands' Office of the Prime Minister and Cabinet highlighted in the statement that the beneficiaries of the blue economy MOU will be Solomon Islanders and anyone who opposes it is an obstacle to the economic development and welfare of the people.

Not long ago, China and the Solomon Islands signed a security agreement, which Australia and the US reacted hysterically. 

Chen Hong, president of the Chinese Association of Australian Studies and director of the Australian Studies Center at East China Normal University, told the Global Times that benign win-win cooperation between China and the Solomon Islands has become a new target of the US and Australia. Australia allows no Chinese presence in what it regards as its "backyard." 

The economic cooperation pact is expected to boost the Solomon Islands' economy and infrastructure, and is conducive to the South Pacific island country's sustainable development beyond the pact. Yet Australia and the US are distorting and demonizing such cooperation with evil-intended conjectures, Chen said.

Pointing fingers at the Solomon Islands and other South Pacific countries' decisions to develop their economies with a foreign country also reflects the "mentality of a hegemonic colonizer" and constitute real "intervention and intrusion" of South Pacific countries' sovereignty, the expert said.

Chinese Foreign Minister spokesperson Zhao Lijian at Wednesday's routine press briefing reiterated that since Australia claims to respect the Solomon Islands' sovereignty, it should live up to its words and stop making irresponsible remarks on the Solomon Islands' exercise of sovereign rights.