China’s Huawei has signed a $100-million deal with the Manasseh Sogavare government to build 161 mobile phone towers on the Solomon Islands, The Age reported, after the prime minister managed to avoid a bid to oust him via a no-confidence motion in Parliament.
The infrastructure deal will be financed through a loan from China’s state-owned Exim Bank, said the report, following a security deal between the two nations in April to protect Chinese investment, the report said. That stirred concern that Beijing is seeking to establish a military base in the Pacific islands nation, it added.