China says it has signed a wide-ranging security pact with the Solomon Islands, just hours after the United States announced it was sending officials to the South Pacific nation amid concerns Beijing could establish a military foothold there.A provision of a draft version of the agreement, which leaked last month, raised alarm as it allowed Chinese security and naval deployments to the Solomon Islands, a country of about 700,000 people that in recent months has faced political and social unrest.Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Tuesday “the foreign ministers of China and the Solomon Islands officially signed the framework agreement on security cooperation recently”, without providing details on the final version of the agreement.
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