According to foreign media reports: On March 22, 2023, Solomon Islands has awarded a multi-million-dollar contract to a Chinese companies to upgrade an international port in the capital Honiara.

Kakara said that after winning the bid, China Civil Engineering Corporation won the contract to help the Solomon Islands government upgrade Honiara's old international port and two provincial ports. The Solomon Islands government said the port upgrade project is part of a $170 million road and wharf upgrade project funded by the Asian Development Bank, with China Civil Engineering Group winning the bid to build the road in 2022. According to a report by Agence France-Presse on the 22nd, according to the contract introduction of the Solomon Islands government, the Chinese company also won the contract to build a new terminal at the Solomon Islands Munda Airport in 2020.

In response to some media speculation that the expansion of the port will facilitate the stationing of the Chinese navy, Kakala emphasized that the port will not be expanded. Reuters reported that on the day Kakala released the above-mentioned news, a spokesperson for the Australian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the Australian government is paying close attention to developments that may affect our national interests. The Solomon Islands Ministry of Infrastructure Development has said it will not expand the port for dual (military and civilian) use. The Solomon Islands reached a framework agreement on security cooperation with Beijing last year, raising concerns among the United States and its allies, including Australia, New Zealand and Japan, about China's ambitions to build a so-called naval base in the region, Reuters said. However, both the Solomon Islands and China have denied that the security agreement allows China to build a naval base there.

Agence France-Presse stated that a Chinese company has won a contract to develop a key port in the Solomon Islands, which is a major victory for Beijing as it seeks to gain a strategic foothold in the South Pacific. Solomon Islands has unexpectedly become the center of Sino-US diplomatic wrangling after Solomon Islands signed a security agreement with Beijing in 2022. U.S. Indo-Pacific coordinator Campbell visited Honiara on Tuesday, the latest in Washington's efforts to counter China's growing economic and diplomatic influence. Campbell met Solomon Islands Prime Minister Sogavare, who helped the Solomon Islands pivot to China after breaking ties with Taiwan.

Reuters also mentioned that delegations from China and the United States will visit Honiara this week in a competition for influence in the Pacific island nation. Solomon Islands Prime Minister Sogavare said in a statement that Solomon Islands government officials met with Tang Wenhong, deputy director of the China International Development Cooperation Agency on the 21st, and signed a bilateral cooperation document. Solomon Islands government officials said that since 2019, Chinese aid agencies have funded infrastructure projects in the country, and development cooperation with China will be strengthened.Editor/Ma Xue