The cutter was conducting patrols as part of a fishing monitoring operation in the Indo-Pacific. However,the Solomons did not respond to the US government’s request for diplomatic clearance,forcing the vessel to divert to Papua New Guinea.
There had been a delay in processing the ship’s approval and it had already left its waters when approval was communicated,Sogavare said.
The delay was primarily due to the appropriate information not being sent to his office on time,he said.
The prime minister used the incident as justification for the moratorium.
“To this end we have requested our partners to give us time to review and put in place our new processes before sending further requests for military vessels to enter the country,” Mr Sogavare said,as he welcomed a US navy hospital ship in Honiara on Tuesday evening.
“Once the new mechanism is in place,we will inform you all. We anticipate the new process to be smoother and timelier.”
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby had earlier on Monday (Tuesday AEST) described the incident as regretful and disappointing. Kirby also used the briefing to hit out at China for trying to set a “new normal” of activity towards Taiwan,including by sailing ships and flying aircraft over the unofficial median line in the Taiwan Strait.
Weeks after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi led a delegation to the island nation in defiance of Beijing,two US warships sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Sunday for the first time since the visit,with navy officials describing the move as a demonstration of its “commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific”.
China,meanwhile,has continued to step up military exercises around Taiwan,the latest of which involved flying drones close to Taiwanese-controlled islands.
“They’re trying to turn up the temperature to a degree where it becomes sort of this new normal,” Kirby said. “We’re not going to accept it.”
“We’re going to do what we can in accordance with the law to help Taiwan defend itself,as well as to defend our own national interest just as you saw over the weekend when two navy cruisers conducted the Taiwan strait transit in international waters.”
The two ships were theUSS Antietam andUSS Chancellorsville,undertaking what the Navy’s 7th fleet described as a “routine transit”.
In a statement posted on Chinese microblogging site Weibo,Beijing responded by saying it was monitoring the ships closely,with troops “on high alert and ready to foil any provocation at any time”.
The latest developments are nonetheless emblematic of the ongoing tensions between Washington and Beijing after multiple visits to Taiwan by American dignitaries.
Loading
China claims Taiwan as its own territory against the strong objections of the democratically elected government in Taipei. The US,meanwhile,adheres to the “One China” policy which recognises the People’s Republic of China as the sole legal government of China but only “acknowledges” the Chinese position that Taiwan is part of China.
Pelosi’s visit at the start of August was highly controversial,as the 82-year-old is the highest-ranking US official to visit the country in 25 years,and has long been an ardent critic of the Chinese Communist Party.
Her trip was followed about a week later by a group of five other US politicians,and then again last week by US Republican Senator andmember of the Senate’s Armed Services committee,Marsha Blackburn,who met with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen on Friday.
While the trips have infuriated China,the Biden administration has sought to avoid tensions between Washington and Beijing boiling over into conflict,reiterating that such congressional visits are routine and insisting that nothing has changed in terms of its One China policy.
The Biden administration plans to ask the US Congress to approve an estimated $US1.1 billion arms sale to Taiwan,including 60 anti-ship missiles and 100 air-to-air missiles,Politico reported on Monday Washington-time,citing sources.
- with Reuters,AP
Get a note directly from our foreigncorrespondentson what’s making headlines around the world.Sign up for the weekly What in the World newsletter here.