Scott Morrison to sell Pacific 'step up' on Solomons visit as pressure builds over climate

Australia is set to sound out the Solomon Islands on its infrastructure wish list and pitch its new Pacific investment bank, amid growing concerns over Chinese regional influence and debt-trap diplomacy.

The prime minister, Scott Morrison, is expected to arrive in the capital, Honiara, on Sunday for a day-and-a-half bilateral visit before he heads to the United Kingdom and Singapore.

“This trip will show our ‘Pacific step up’ in action,” Morrison said.

He will be the first Australian leader to visit the Solomon Islands since Kevin Rudd in 2008.

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Infrastructure development is likely to be high on the agenda during bilateral talks between Morrison and his counterpart, Manasseh Sogavare.

A growing number of Pacific nations are signing up for China’s controversial One Belt, One Road infrastructure building scheme. Papua New Guinea, Cook Islands, Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu, Samoa and Niue are among countries to ink agreements with Beijing.

Morrison announced a $2bn Australian infrastructure financing facility last year as part of Australia’s “Pacific step up”, which is aimed at combatting rising Chinese influence in the region.

While the investment bank is still being set up, the two leaders are likely to have preliminary discussions about priorities and how it will operate.

Australia recently stepped in to fund a new underwater internet cable for the Solomon Islands to lock out Chinese telecommunications company Huawei. PNG is also a part of the project.

The cable will link Sydney to Port Moresby and Honiara and also includes a Solomon Islands domestic cable system connecting remote outer islands. Internet penetration level for the Solomon Islands is at 10% and the cable is expected to provide a huge economic boost.

A cable laying vessel is en route from France and is expected to start laying cables in PNG waters in June. Installation will be finished by the end of the year, project managers say.

Ahead of his trip, Morrison talked up the “family bonds” between Canberra and Honiara, two years after the end of the $2.8bn, 14-year Australian-led rescue mission to help improve Solomon Island lawlessness.

Lowy Institute Pacific expert Jonathan Pryke said the Solomon Islands was a natural choice for Morrison to visit in light of PNG facing political turmoil this week amid the resignation of prime minister Peter O’Neill.

Pryke expects the leaders will also discuss aid project priorities, access to Australia’s seasonal labour scheme, climate change action and natural disaster resilience.

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“I think the Australian government and Scott Morrison will have to be prepared for the reality they’re going to get a whack on climate change when they go to the Pacific,” he told Guardian Australia. “[Morrison will] have to be prepared for it and not be too defensive … He’ll have to grin and bear it.”

Earlier this year, Australia provided assistance to the Solomon Islands to clean up an oil spill after a bulk carrier came aground on a reef at the doorstep of a world heritage site.

Meanwhile, China is actively courting the Solomon Islands to switch its diplomatic ties from Taiwan to Beijing and an emerging regional flashpoint could be brewing.

China is the Solomon Islands’ largest trading partner and lawmakers are facing pressure to switch allegiances, Pryke said.

The Liberal MP Alex Hawke, who is set to become international development minister, will join Morrison on the Honiara visit.

Morrison is also due to travel to the United Kingdom to represent Australia at the 75th anniversary commemoration of the D-Day landings, before attending an annual leaders meeting in Singapore with Lee Hsien Loong.