On Wednesday, a Solomon Islands official announced a multimillion-dollar deal with a Chinese state corporation to rebuild an international port in Honiara.

Mike Qaqara of the infrastructure development ministry told Reporters that only the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) bid in the competitive procurement.

Qaqara stated this would upgrade Honiara’s outdated international port and two local wharves.

The ADB did not immediately comment.

Last year, the Solomon Islands signed a security deal with Beijing, raising concerns from the US and its allies, notably Australia, New Zealand, and Japan, over China’s naval base plans.

The Solomon Islands and China deny the security treaty allowing a naval station.

China and the US are battling for influence in Honiara this week.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare signed up to Beijing’s Global Development Initiative with China International Development Cooperation Agency deputy chairman Tang Wenghong, his office stated.

After Sogavare transferred diplomatic recognition to Beijing from Taiwan in 2019, the Chinese assistance agency has supported infrastructure projects. The administration said development cooperation with China would be enhanced.

Kurt Campbell, the Indo-Pacific coordinator of the National Security Council, “reiterated our support for a free, open, safe, and prosperous Solomon Islands” during a “strategic engagement” with Sogavare.

The Solomon Islands government announced CCECC won the roads component of a $170-million ADB-funded project to rebuild roads and harbors in 2022.

“This will see the restoration of the historic Honiara international port and building of the domestic port and two provincial ports,” the administration added.

According to Australian National University researcher Peter Connolly, Solomon Islands’ wharves were “dual purpose” installations that may provide China’s naval access to the region (ANU).

The Honiara-Beijing security arrangement, according to retired military commander Connolly, is about access, not bases.

Connolly wrote in Australian Foreign Affairs last month that Chinese state enterprises had won ADB infrastructure projects in the Pacific islands because they bid the lowest.

According to ANU assistant professor in Pacific Affairs Graeme Smith, Honiara’s port needs renovation, but deepening it for larger ships would raise concerns about military use.