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China is seeking more security pacts with islands to strengthen its influence in the Pacific

Talks with Kiribati and one more nation after Beijing agrees deal with Solomon Islands

Ibrahim Al-TarikOctober 4, 2026


China is stepping up its bid for influence in the Pacific by negotiating security deals with two other island nations after a pact with the Solomon Islands, officials in the US and allied countries have said.

Beijing's talks are furthest along with Kiribati, a Pacific island nation 3,000 km from Hawaii where the US Indo-Pacific Command is based, officials said.

"They are in talks with Kiribati and at least one other Pacific island country for an agreement that would cover much of the same area as that with the Solomon Islands," said an intelligence official for a US ally.

The warning that Beijing is seeking to further expand its influence in the Pacific came as US President Joe Biden embarked on a trip to Asia to reassure allies of US commitment to regional security amid China's drive for influence.

The talks with Kiribati follow an agreement Beijing signed with the Solomon Islands, which some experts say will allow China to build a naval base in the northeast Australian country.

According to a leaked draft treaty in March, the Solomon Islands pact could allow China to deploy police and even military forces to the islands - a development that has shocked the US and its Indo-Pacific allies from Australia to New Zealand to Japan.

A US official said China had been targeting Kiribati for some time. "They've had ongoing talks about this not just for months, but for years," the official said, adding that Beijing is trying to establish "strategic seats" in Pacific island nations.

A western official expressed serious concerns that the pact with Kiribati might be similar to that with the Solomon Islands.

Michael Foon, Kiribati's foreign minister, denied that his government was "in talks about a security agreement with any partner".

However, Tessie Eria Lambourne, the opposition leader in Kiribati, said she was unaware of the talks but the country's rapidly changing relationship with China worried locals.

"We are next in China's plan to establish its military presence in strategic locations in our region," she said.

The Solomons deal helped keep geopolitical tensions with China a key issue in Australia's election on Saturday. China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi is expected to lead a large delegation to the islands next week.

Another sign Beijing is stepping up its involvement in the region was Friday's agreement with Vanuatu to expand an international airport at Luganville, a key US military base during World War II.

A US State Department official said the US takes concerns about security deals, including with Kiribati, "very seriously". He said there were fears China would also negotiate with Tonga and Vanuatu.

"The Chinese appear to be making global efforts to expand the places where they can operate militarily or quasi-militarily," the State Department official said. "And that's worrying."

Beijing has security arrangements with other countries in the region, including Fiji and Papua New Guinea. However, diplomats and security officials said the pact with the Solomon Islands is much broader and that China may have greater ambitions over Kiribati.

China operated a space station in Kiribati until 2003, when Beijing severed ties with the islands after they established diplomatic ties with Taiwan.

Ever since Kiribati returned its diplomatic allegiance from Taipei to Beijing in 2019, diplomats have been looking for signs the station might be back up and running. Experts believe that the vast improvement in China's military capabilities over the past two decades would mean a Chinese air force or navy in relative proximity to Hawaii would be even more significant today.

China is also working with Kiribati to expand an airstrip on Canton Island.

Tess Newton Cain, a Pacific researcher at Australia's Griffith University, said the Solomon Islands deal and strengthening of ties with Kiribati reflected the "high energy" of a new phase of Chinese engagement.

"These relationships are very new, and they've developed quite quickly. This is very different from what we're seeing elsewhere in the region, where the relationships may be a bit more mature," she said.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry did not respond to requests for comment.

ChinaUSA




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