President Joe Biden looking away on China's supplying Russia amid the invasion of Ukraine is not only destabilizing for the South China Sea, but the world, according to China expert Gordon Chang.
"The Biden administration knows that China is supplying material and financial assistance, even military assistance, to the Russian war effort; yet, the Biden administration refuses to put sanctions on China," Chang told on Sunday's "The Cats Roundtable" on WABC 770 AM-N.Y.
"And, because of that, Beijing feels it has a free pass to do whatever it wants in its region. Therefore, we are seeing its increased presence on the Philippines. Now this move on the Solomon Islands.
"This is the failure of Washington, once again, to require China to adhere to reasonable standards of conduct. When we don't enforce these standards of conduct, China goes out and destabilizes the region."
China is seeking to cut off America from New Zealand and Australia through a reported "draft security agreement" with the Soloman Islands, Chang added to host John Catsimatidis.
"The reason why they are strategic today is because they would cut off lines of communication and lines of supply between the United States and our treaty ally Australia and our treaty ally New Zealand," Chang said.
The Soloman Islands' capital, Honiara, in on the island of Guadalcanal, and China reportedly is working on a deal to establish a military base there.
"There was a leak of a draft security agreement between the Solomons and China which is so broad that it will allow China to establish a military base in the island-nation," Chang said.
"The Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands [Manasseh] Sogavare actually denied that he would permit China to establish a permanent facility, but nobody really believes that denial."
China has effectively used Sogavare ties to destabilize the Solomon Islands and reflexively been called upon to help, according to Chang.
"China, actually, over the last couple of years has done its best to destabilize the island-nation, and that has permitted the prime minister, who is very pro-Beijing, to call in the Chinese to maintain order there," he added.
A Chinese military base in the Solomon Islands would be problematic for the U.S. military, Chang concluded.
"This is sacred territory for the U.S. Marines and the U.S. Army and the U.S. Navy," he said. "This is also true throughout the Pacific, where China is making fast inroads into these nations and destabilizing them."
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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