Will the Solomon Islands be a nail in China's insertion into the United States and Australia?
Some time ago, foreign media paid great attention to the news of One China, that is, the security cooperation between China and the Solomon Islands.
Foreign media speculated that China was preparing to establish a military base in the Solomon Islands to support the Activities of the Chinese Navy in the South Pacific, thus punching a nail between the United States and Australia.
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In the Solomon Islands, it can influence the United States and Australia
The Solomon Islands are located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, northeast of Australia, thousands of kilometers from China.
If China establishes a military base here so that the Chinese navy can achieve normal deployment here, the impact will be very considerable.
If a logistics support base similar to the Djibouti Naval Base were to be established, it would be possible to accommodate a small ocean-going formation of the Chinese Navy.
The formation will consist of 2 to 3 main battleships, and an integrated supply ship, with an activity range of up to 3,000 kilometers.
These 2-3 main battleships can be a combination of 2 destroyers + 1 frigate, which can form a very complete combat system although small in scale.
For example, 2 052D destroyers can form a complete air defense combat system, and the air defense combat capability can be counted among the best in the world.
Moreover, the 052D destroyer also has a good anti-ship combat capability, it can launch China's most advanced Eagle Strike 18 anti-ship missile, and a single missile can sink a destroyer of 10,000 tons.
Then bring a 054A frigate that is responsible for anti-submarine warfare tasks, so that the formation has the ability of air defense, anti-submarine, and anti-ship at the same time, and can operate independently.
Such a formation may not be much of a threat to the U.S. Navy, but it is a formidable threat to the Australian Navy near the Solomon Islands.
The Australian Navy was neither capable of breaking through the air defenses of such a formation nor able to withstand the attack of the Eagle Strike 18 anti-ship missiles.
When the Chinese naval formation is supported by space-based reconnaissance satellites, the Australian Navy will face a more unfavorable situation.
From this point of view, if China establishes a military base in the Solomon Islands, it is indeed a nail in the coffin for Australia.
But the question is, is China really prepared to build a military base in the Solomon Islands?
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China and the Solomon Islands are security cooperatives
In fact, the so-called Chinese preparation for the establishment of a military base in the Solomon Islands is only the content hyped up by foreign media, and the real content of the news is the security cooperation between China and the Solomon Islands.
Security cooperation is not the same as military cooperation, let alone the establishment of military bases.
The reason why foreign media will speculate so much is that they are already accustomed to the United States and other Western countries, building military bases everywhere under the banner of security cooperation and using force to interfere with other countries.
To use one of our old sayings, it is "with the heart of a villain, the belly of a gentleman.".
In November last year, social unrest broke out in the Solomon Islands, which affected many innocent people, including hundreds of overseas Chinese compatriots in the Solomon Islands.
The Solomon police were overwhelmed by the unrest and applied to China in the hope that it would help Solomon.
In January, China dispatched a police advisory team of nine experts and a consignment of police supplies to help maintain social stability in the Solomon Islands.
During the training process of several months, the Chinese police adviser team trained nearly 200 police officers for the Solomon Islands, which was highly affirmed by the Solomon Islands.
This is also part of our security cooperation with the Solomon Islands.
Therefore, as soon as the foreign media saw that China wanted to cooperate with the Solomon Islands for security cooperation, they hyped up China's need to establish military bases, which was completely to force their set of logic to China.
For us in China, security cooperation is security cooperation, not the kind of excuse used by Western countries to cover up military action.
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There is no need to establish a base in Solomon
The foreign media report is a hype, and some readers may ask a question: Will we go to the Solomon Islands to establish a military base in the future?
The author believes that the construction of a military base in the Solomon Islands is not very necessary for us in China.
With the continuous development of China, there is no doubt that the Chinese People's Liberation Army will definitely go out and safeguard our interests overseas.
But China is not the United States, China does not have the will to go globally, and the presence of military forces overseas will be maintained to a minimum that can meet the demand.
In this case, China will not build too many overseas military bases, so the location of overseas military bases must be able to play a key role.
Therefore, the construction of China's overseas military bases gives priority to ensuring the security of China's maritime trade routes and China's overseas assets.
The location of the Solomon Islands, on both fronts, is of little interest to China.
The establishment of a military base in the Solomon Islands can certainly be a deterrent to Australia, but it has little other effect.
For us, this kind of deterrent effect is only a deterrent, and the deterrent is not the military base of the main opponent, and there seems to be little need except to understand the gas.
We have to deal with Australia, we have to fight a dozen of Australia's arrogance that constantly provokes us, and there are many methods that can be used, economically, diplomatically, and militarily.
Compared with these approaches, the construction of military bases in the Solomon Islands is not only disproportionate to the investment and results, but also prone to new contradictions and conflicts in the South Pacific and the United States.
And the South Pacific is not our main interest, and such a conflict is somewhat unjust.
In general, the South Pacific is not our main overseas interest, nor is it an important line of sea communication, so the need for us to build military bases in the South Pacific is not high.
To safeguard our small overseas interests over there, and our overseas Compatriots, then security cooperation like the Solomon Islands is a better choice.
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Win-win cooperation is more effective than force
Even without building a military base, China is gradually crushing the U.S. Asia-Pacific strategic system.
We don't need to use force to tie neighboring countries to chariots, as the United States did. We are talking about cooperation, win-win, and let other countries follow us through win-win cooperation.
Coercion by force is temporary, and only when both sides can have common interests can the two sides always maintain cooperation.
The most typical example of this is the ASEAN countries.
In the past, ASEAN countries also followed the United States in standing against China on the South China Sea issue.
But now ASEAN has replaced Europe as China's largest trading partner, and on the South China Sea issue, ASEAN is no longer making waves, but has taken substantial concessions to China.
Therefore, we should choose economic and diplomatic means to expand our influence in the South Pacific, rather than relying solely on military means.