Australian Defense Minister Peter Dutton on Sunday (April 24) accused China of paying bribes to secure international deals, but refused to say corruption played a role in the controversial security pact recently struck between Beijing and the Solomon Islands was signed.
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“The Chinese don’t play by our rules,” Dutton told Sky News Australia. “If you look at what has happened in Africa, there are corrupt payments that have been made,” he continued. “We’ll never be able to compete with that kind of practice. We have values, we have rule of law and we respect them.”
“China has changed”
“The reality is that China has changed,” the minister continued. “China’s incredibly aggressive acts of foreign interference, its willingness to pay bribes to beat other countries into signing deals: this is the reality of modern China.”
Asked if he thinks China has done the same with the Solomon Islands, which last week announced a vague security pact with Beijing, Mr Dutton declined to comment. This pact has reignited the fears of Australia, a neighbor and ally of the archipelago, but also of the United States.
Canberra and Washington have long worried about the possibility that China could establish a naval base in the South Pacific, allowing it to project its naval power far beyond its borders. Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare has repeatedly asserted that there will be no Chinese military base in his country, failing to persuade the United States, who have warned they will “retaliate appropriately” if he delivers on that promise does not comply.
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