‘OPEN FOR BUSINESS’:
The US gave a ‘firm commitment’ to finance a wharf and roads at Bina Harbour, Wale said, but a US official declined to comment on the specifics
The US is in advanced talks to fund a port in the Solomon Islands, the Pacific nation’s leader said, reinvigorating a race for influence with China in the region. The US International Development Finance Corp (DFC), an agency designed to advance Washington’s foreign policy in developing countries, has struck memorandums with several South Pacific countries indebted to China since May. Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands, where Beijing has built sport stadiums, roads, government offices and airports over the past decade, signed with the DFC to explore infrastructure project, US officials said.
Solomon Islands Prime Minister Matthew Wale speaks during a news in Canberra on June 3.
The first major project likely to emerge is Bina Harbour, a deep-water port in the Solomon Islands, where Washington and Canberra had feared China could build a dual-purpose military and civilian port. US officials have given a “firm commitment, subject to details” to finance a wharf, power, fuel storage and roads at Bina Harbour, Solomon Islands Prime Minister Matthew Wale said after returning from talks in Washington.
