PM Fiame with Solomon Is. Port in the background to be developed by Chinese contracting civil engineering firm, CCECC.
Staff Writer
The China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) has responded in defence to comments by the Prime Minister, Fiame Naomi Mataafa, warning that,“ China is not the only major power that may want increased military access to the Pacific.”
ABC News quoted PM Fiame extensively while in Canberra for a meeting with her Australian counterpart PM Anthony Albanese.
Samoa’s leader echoed concerns about China potentially exploiting its new deal to upgrade Solomon Islands wharves.
This was after Solomon Islands announced that the Chinese state-owned company, CCECC, had won a contract to upgrade Honiara’s port in an Asian Development Bank-funded project.
ABC News underlined PM Fiame’s concerns ‘… China was not the only major power that might want to secure further military access to the Pacific “under the guise of protecting [their] assets”.
“However, she said, Beijing’s move to strike a security pact with Solomon Islands after the 2021 riots – which devastated several Chinese-owned businesses in Honiara — could still establish a new precedent,”ABC News reported.
“It was presented that China was wanting to bring in security personnel [to Solomon Islands] in a sense to protect those assets — physical and human,” she told journalists in Canberra.
“Now it occurred to me … that many countries, particularly in assistance projects, develop assets and have their personnel in receiving countries.
“Now is this going to be a trend where because one country has assisted and has assets, that this becomes an opportunity or a window by which security personnel come in?”
China and Solomon Islands have both repeatedly and forcefully denied that there’s any prospect of China establishing a military base in the country.
The Chinese Contractors, CCECC, followed up the comments by the Samoan PM with and allegations that “…Solomon Islands’ wharves could be exploited by China as “dual purpose” facilities, which could allow the navy to gain access to the region.
The CCECC response statement is reprinted here :
CCECC is an independent corporate entity with its own business vision, corporate policy, and fiscal autonomy.
The decision to award the LMCP-Port Package contract to CCECC was made on technical, contractual, and legal bases, and not subject to any political or strategic clout from the PRC.
The LMCP-Ports project was a global open tender and any company interested and meeting the tender requirements could participate. During the initial bidding process, more than 20 companies from different countries participated in the bidding conference and downloaded the bid documents from the MID’s website.
These companies come from countries such as local, Japan, China, Fiji, and two companies from Australia, CCECC is just one of those prospective bidders.
CCECC has a proven track record of successfully completing projects in the island countries of the South Pacific Region.
The LMCP-Port Package contract in Solomon Islands awarded to CCECC was based on its technical expertise and competitive bid.
The contract was signed on 20th March 2023 between CCECC and the Solomon Islands Government through its project Implementing Agencies, the Ministry of Finance and Treasury (MoFT) and the Ministry of Infrastructure Development (MID).
The LMCP-Port Package contract awarded to CCECC by Solomon Islands Government was done through fair and equitable procedures, with CCECC winning the bid through its compliant Technical and Financial bid. CCECC participated in the bidding process just like the other international bidders, and its track record and expertise in engineering and construction were taken into consideration.
Shortage of infrastructure is the biggest challenge in Solomon Islands.
The current old Honiara port was built in 1983 and 1988, and is quite old, environmentally poor, and pose safety risks, with low capacity. CCECC is committed to improving the infrastructure of the Solomon Islands and supporting the government’s efforts to boost economic development and sustainability.
The successful completion of the LMCP-Port Package Project will undoubtedly contribute to the country’s economic growth and social development after decades of dereliction.
Therefore, CCECC would like to assure all concerned parties, especially the peace-loving people from all public, private, and government sectors of the Solomon Islands, that CCECC will execute the contract on the purpose of benefits of the nation and the people, also, CCECC remains committed to fulfilling the terms of the LMCP-Port Package contract to the high standards.