蜜芽传媒

As the Australian federal elections loom, a senior Australian minister, Karen Andrews, has suggested that China has deliberately revealed its security pact with the Solomon Islands two weeks before Australia's general election to prevent the reappointment of her conservative, Liberal Party.

Both historically and geo-strategically, the Australian-Solomon Islands relationship has been build upon the backbone of both military and development aid. China has slowly built upon its relationship with the Islands and now has come to an agreement - by continuing its support of building of new infrastructure and securing trade agreements and what's more, China's plans to build a naval base which concerns all parties involved in the South China Sea dispute.

The unveiling of this security pact has been labelled by some as Australia鈥檚 biggest foreign policy failure in the Pacific since World War II.

So should Australians be concerned? Newsday spoke to Professor John Charles Blaxland, a Professor in Intelligence Studies and International Security at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at the Australian National University.

(Picture: Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) meets with Prime Minister Manasseh Damukana Sogavare (not pictured) of the Solomon Islands on October 9, 2019 in Beijing, China. Credit: Parker Song-Pool/Getty Images)

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