April 20, 2022, was a dark day for the United States in Oceania. On that day, China signed its first-ever security agreement in the South Pacific, with the Solomon Islands authorizing Chinese navy ships to make routine port visits. The pact also allows Chinese security services to train the island nation’s law enforcement to, in the words of Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare, “beef up” the government’s response to domestic unrest—which had roiled the country just a few months earlier. At the time, many…
