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Speaker 1: Good morning everybody, and welcome to the daily ours. It

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Speaker 1: is Friday, the twenty second of April. Happy Friday. You

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Speaker 1: made it through a four day week for a lot

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Speaker 1: of you, and to reward you, we're giving you another

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Speaker 1: long weekend Zara. Today in the deep Dive, we're going

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Speaker 1: to talk through the unfolding drama with the Solomon Islands,

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Speaker 1: one of our closest neighbors. But first take us to

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Speaker 1: the capital of the country and tell us what's been happening.

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Speaker 2: The ACT government has followed closely in the footsteps of

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Speaker 2: the Victorian and New South Wales governments, announcing eased restrictions

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Speaker 2: for close contacts of COVID cases. So in line with

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Speaker 2: what we heard yesterday at eleven fifty nine pm, next Tuesday,

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Speaker 2: the twenty sixth of April, close contacts will no longer

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Speaker 2: be required to isolate, but there are some caveats, with

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Speaker 2: the ACT Health Minister Rachel Stevens Smith emphasizing that any

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Speaker 2: close contact with symptoms is still required to isolate.

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Speaker 1: Meanwhile, to Europe now and Russia has tested a Sarmat

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Speaker 1: intercontinental ballistic missile which is capable of carrying a nuclear weapon.

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Speaker 1: Footage released on State run. Russian TV depicts the missile

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Speaker 1: being tested at a facility in northern Russia, with President

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Speaker 1: of Vladimir Putin saying the test should quote provide food

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Speaker 1: for thought for those who try to threaten our country.

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Speaker 2: Wimbledon's All England Tennis Club has announced little ban Russian

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Speaker 2: and Belarusian players from competing at this year's tournament, which

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Speaker 2: begins on the twenty seventh of June. The All England

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Speaker 2: Club said the decision was made to help limit Russia's

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Speaker 2: global influence through the strongest means possible.

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Speaker 1: And your Friday good news. Prince Mavendra Singh Golil, India's

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Speaker 1: first openly gay royal, has launched a national campaign to

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Speaker 1: ban conversion therapy in the country. The Prince had previously

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Speaker 1: turned fifteen acres of his palace grounds into a shelter

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Speaker 1: for vulnerable members of the LGBTIQ plus community.

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Speaker 2: Over the past couple of days and indeed weeks, while

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Speaker 2: the nation's attention has been fixated on domestic politics, on

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Speaker 2: debates on the upcoming federal election, there has been a

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Speaker 2: situation brewing overseas and that is something that is happening

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Speaker 2: in Solomon Islands. Take me through what is happening from

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Speaker 2: the very beginning and why during the middle of a

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Speaker 2: federal election campaign we had a minister from the Morrison

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Speaker 2: government heading overseas.

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Speaker 1: It's pretty remarkable that a small Pacific nation has become

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Speaker 1: one of the big topics of the election, at least

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Speaker 1: this week. We don't know what is in store for

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Speaker 1: us next week, but a lot of people in the

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Speaker 1: opposition would say that they saw this coming. However, it

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Speaker 1: seems that the government did not. This story is all

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Speaker 1: about a security agreement Solomon Islands signed with China. So

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Speaker 1: we first found out about this a few weeks ago

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Speaker 1: when a draft of the agreement was leaked, and notably

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Speaker 1: it was the first time the Australian government had heard

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Speaker 1: about it. Minister for the Pacific Zed Seseljia confirmed that

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Speaker 1: the announcement was unexpected. Now that agreement has been signed,

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Speaker 1: but we we still don't know what exactly is in us.

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Speaker 1: The big question that all Australian politicians and security experts

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Speaker 1: are thinking about is whether the agreement will allow China

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Speaker 1: to establish a military base in Solomon Islands. Now we

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Speaker 1: have heard from the Prime Minister of Solomon Islands who

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Speaker 1: said that he has no intention whatsoever of allowing that. Instead,

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Speaker 1: he says the agreement is just about Solomon Islands acting

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Speaker 1: in its best interests and that it wants to quote

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Speaker 1: be a friend to all an enemy to none. He says,

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Speaker 1: there's no plans for Solomon Islands to pick sides, and

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Speaker 1: the existing security agreement that Solomon Islands has with Australia

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Speaker 1: is still going to stand. That agreement is protected even

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Speaker 1: though they have now entered into another agreement with China.

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Speaker 1: China says this exact point. So they say it's just

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Speaker 1: normal engagement between two sovereign countries, that there's nothing particularly

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Speaker 1: remarkable about this security agreement, and that the intention behind

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Speaker 1: the agreement is peaceful and not directed at any other country.

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Speaker 2: Okay, So why is that magnificant for Australia. Why, as

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Speaker 2: we mentioned at the top, is zed so Soldia heading

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Speaker 2: over there? Why is it coming up in leadership debates?

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Speaker 2: Talk me through that.

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Speaker 1: The most obvious reason here is undoubtedly geography. Solomon Islands

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Speaker 1: is a couple of thousand kilometers northeast of Australia, off

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Speaker 1: the north near Darwin, so a Chinese military presence is

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Speaker 1: a security risk for Australia. Especially in the event of

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Speaker 1: a military escalation between China and the West. You have

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Speaker 1: to remember the Pacific Islands are a very important strategic

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Speaker 1: place for Australia to have interests and for other Western allies.

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Speaker 1: The Pacific region lies geographically between China and Australia and

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Speaker 1: also between China and the US, China and Japan, so

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Speaker 1: all of those countries consider their relationships with these tiny

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Speaker 1: Pacific nations very important and they've been worried about China's

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Speaker 1: growing presence in the region.

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Speaker 2: Scott Morrison said this was quote no surprise, but you

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Speaker 2: mentioned that Australia didn't know about the agreement UNTI a

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Speaker 2: draft was leaked mere weeks ago. Did Australia see this coming?

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Speaker 2: And I guess as a follow up, could it have

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Speaker 2: done more in this space?

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Speaker 1: There's really no doubt that it was a surprise. We

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Speaker 1: had known China was growing its presence in the Pacific

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Speaker 1: as a kind of umbrella strategic long term goal, but

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Speaker 1: this escalation wasn't expected to happen now, and the Foreign

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Speaker 1: Minister and the Pacific Minister have both expressed that surprise.

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Speaker 1: But if we zoom out a little bit, the warning

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Speaker 1: signs have been there in Solomon Islands. The opposition leader

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Speaker 1: was warning Australian diplomats quite a while ago about this,

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Speaker 1: and last year there was a major turning point when

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Speaker 1: Solomon Islands diplomatically recognized China. So before that, Solomon Islands

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Speaker 1: was one of the few countries in the world that

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Speaker 1: recognized Taiwan, a country which claims independence but which China

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Speaker 1: views as part of China, and it didn't recognize China.

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Speaker 1: That switched and it has caused riots and unrest in

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Speaker 1: Solomon Islands, and Solomon Islands accepted offers from both Australian

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Speaker 1: and Chinese troops and police to help quell these riots.

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Speaker 1: So there were signs of China's growing involvement in the country.

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Speaker 1: To your question of whether more could have been done,

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Speaker 1: the key thing to remember, of course, is that Solomon

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Speaker 1: Islands is its own country. It has sovereignty, It can

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Speaker 1: do what it wants. Australia can't make us do anything

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Speaker 1: or demand anything from it, and the Australian government statements

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Speaker 1: have been super careful to recognize this in its language.

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Speaker 1: But there are people arguing, including those now in the

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Speaker 1: Labor Party, that we didn't do enough to maintain this

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Speaker 1: strong relationship with Solomon Islands and we let things get

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Speaker 1: to a point where they felt they needed China's help.

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Speaker 1: Here is Shadow Foreign Minister Pennywong talking about this.

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Speaker 3: This is the worst foreign policy blunder that we've seen

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Speaker 3: in the Pacific since World War Two. And despite mister

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Speaker 3: Morrison's tough talk on his watch, our region has become

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Speaker 3: less secure and the risks Australia faces have become greater.

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Speaker 2: Casting an eye domestically again, how is this coming up

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Speaker 2: in debates in the lead up to the election.

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Speaker 1: I feel like it's becoming kind of a symbol for

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Speaker 1: the strength that both Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanizi want

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Speaker 1: to convey to voters that they have with their foreign policy,

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Speaker 1: particularly in relation to China. It's kind of like the

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Speaker 1: media and the general public needed a focal point to

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Speaker 1: have this discussion about China's growing influence in the region

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Speaker 1: through But it's also involving topics like our foreign aid

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Speaker 1: obligations in the Pacific and topics that kind of capture

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Speaker 1: the foreign policy zeitgeist of right now. Obviously, the other

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Speaker 1: big topic in foreign policy is Ukraine, Russia and the

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Speaker 1: changing shape of Europe. But for us here in Australia,

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Speaker 1: it seems that China presents a more relevant geographical threat.

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Speaker 1: So that's why I think this topic has real cut

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Speaker 1: through in terms of the frequency of both leaders being

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Speaker 1: asked about it.

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Speaker 2: It's certainly a developing issue and one that both the

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Speaker 2: government and the opposition would be keeping a keen eye on.

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Speaker 2: We will be sure to update you on anything we

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Speaker 2: hear on this as the weeks go on, but in

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Speaker 2: the meantime, to catch up on the day's news, follow

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Speaker 2: us over on Instagram at the Daily Ozz to whear.

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Speaker 2: Over three hundred and fifty thousand ossies get their news

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Speaker 2: every day and we'd love to have you as part

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Speaker 2: of that community.