[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 56 (Wednesday, March 30, 2022)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E324]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





EXPRESSING CONCERN WITH U.S. FOREIGN POLICY FAILURE TOWARDS THE SOLOMON 
                                ISLANDS

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. PAUL A. GOSAR

                               of arizona

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 30, 2022

  Mr. GOSAR. Madam Speaker, I rise today to address the massive U.S. 
failure under the Biden Administration in allowing the Solomon Islands 
to align with China. The Solomon Islands' shift towards Beijing was not 
out of the blue as it is the product of a several year effort. Further, 
the Solomon Islands contains the blood of over 10,000 U.S. Marines who 
died retaking it from the Japanese, including the infamous battle at 
Guadalcanal. Thousands of others were maimed and wounded. What our 
grandfathers paid for in blood, the Chinese have bought with money. 
This is a national disgrace and we were entirely unprepared for such a 
significant development in the Pacific Ocean.
  This strategic shift truly began in September of 2019 when Prime 
Minister Sogavare announced the Solomon Islands was switching its 36 
year diplomatic ties from Taiwan to China. With no embassy in the 
country, the U.S. response was limited however the then Trump 
Administration offered an aid package to the island of Malaita, the 
nation's largest province, which is openly out spoken against the 
diplomatic change.
  Shortly after the cessation of the failed Afghanistan withdrawal, 
China increased its meddling in the Solomon Islands. When the people of 
Malaita were refused an audience before Prime Minister Sogavare violent 
riots broke out across the capital. While U.S. allies responded at 
first, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) soon filled the gap with their 
own police and police gear.
  To any international observer the CCP strategy is clear. Shift 
allegiances, make the Solomon Islands politically and economically 
dependent on Beijing through Belt and Road Initiative investment and 
projects, and make the Solomon Islands' government security based on 
CCP personnel and equipment. Yet there is no action from the Biden 
Administration. Finally, in February 2020, three years after the 
Solomon Island's shift from Taiwan, the Biden Administration announced 
its Indo-Pacific Strategy and Secretary Blinken states that the U.S. 
will reopen an embassy. This is much too late.
  Just last week, Solomon Island officials confirm that a police deal 
has been signed with China and that a larger security deal is in the 
finalization phase. The deal grants Chinese police and security the 
right to assist the security of the island and to protect Chinese 
personnel and projects there. It would, most concerningly, allow 
People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy ships to carry out logistical stops 
at the island, which likely opens the door to a PLA naval base on the 
Solomon Island, 1,400 miles from our ally Australia and extending the 
CCP's military reach and influence towards the U.S. and its allies.
  We are watching the CCP's soft and hard power operate in real time, 
blending its growing economic, political, and military might to slowly 
take control of a country, creeping closer to becoming a regional 
hegemon in an ocean the U.S. shares a border with and did $1.75 
trillion in two way trade and whose economy accounts for 60 percent of 
the global GDP.
  The reality is that Biden Administration has been wrong or too slow 
on every major foreign policy issue since taking office. The failure of 
this Administration with the Solomon Islands proves it cannot walk and 
chew gum at the same time, distracted by its failed withdrawal 
operation in Afghanistan, paralyzed by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, 
distracted with re-entering into a diplomatic deal which makes 
concessions with the world's state sponsor of terrorism, or too focused 
on entering into abstract climate and tax deals with foreign nations 
and international organizations.
  For decades, the American people were told by our governing and 
economic elites that the People's Republic of China under the CCP was 
not a threat. That it would develop and align with the West. Yet, we 
have watched China pursue hegemonic dominance in the Indo-Pacific, 
using this regional security to project power globally in a manner 
which threatens American economic, political, and national security. 
But all we get from the Biden Administration is strategy documents and 
diplomatic action which is far too late as Beijing eyes 2049 and the 
end of its 100 year marathon.
  Madam Speaker, I recount this series of concerning events not to 
advocate for U.S. intervention. I highlight these developments to show 
how the Biden Administration has been completely unable or unwilling to 
use the wide range of America's tools of statecraft to address a real 
security threat, growing Chinese power and influence. Instead it is off 
pursuing highly political and abstract foreign policy goals which do 
much less for the security of the American people, homeland, and way of 
life. The ease at which the CCP has obtained complete influence over 
another nation in a strategically important region of the world 
highlights its growing power and how this Congress and Administration 
needs to get serious about its foreign policy responsibilities.

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