Introductions

Over the past few decades, China has expanded its hegemony, especially in the Indo
Pacific region. Seeing how aggressive China is in legitimizing its power in the South China
Sea, by building military bases and building several artificial islands in expanding the
Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). This is an extraordinary trembler for countries that are in
the path of what China claims as part of the South China Sea. But apparently, it is not only in
the South China Sea that China shows its expansion aggressiveness, but also China's desire to
control the oceans also has an impact on the Pacific Region. The strategic location of the
South Pacific region is a favorable jolt for China to expand its hegemony in the region. In the
past three years, China's footprint in the South Pacific has become so large, and its behavior
in other parts of the world so much more assertive, that a great warning is beginning to echo
in the capitals of traditional South Pacific partners (Pryke, 2020).

One of China's targets in the South Pacific region is the Solomon Islands1 . Recently
there was a major negotiation offered by China to the Solomon Islands regarding the signing
of a Security Pact. On April 19, 2022, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang
Wenbin spoke out that the foreign ministers and the Solomon Islands officially signed a
framework agreement on security cooperation recently, without providing details on the final
version of the agreement. (China Says It Has Signed Security Pact with Solomon Islands, 2022;
Needham, 2022; O'Brien, 2022b). The Chinese Armed Police can be deployed at the request of
the Solomon Islands to maintain "social order", but in this case Prime Minister Manasseh
Sogavare has repeatedly said he has no intention of allowing China to build a military base
there.

The decision taken by the Solomon Islands government had previously received a lot
of input and consideration from Pacific countries. The leader of the Federated States of
Micronesia urged Solomon Islands not to sign a security pact with China, saying the country
had "serious security concerns" and feared the Pacific could become embroiled in a war
between China and the United States. Australia also stated that signing the China security
pact was a failure of Australian diplomacy. (McGuirk, 2022). This is where Australia
actually advised the Solomon Islands not to cooperate with China because it saw how
cunningly the bamboo curtain country's political game was played.

The Solomon Islands found the response given by Australia very distressing. This
response is also the same given by the Solomon Islands to the reactions given by New
Zealand and also the United States. The reaction of concern given by the three countries to
the Solomon Islands has actually occurred in 2019, when the Solomon Islands shifted
diplomatic cooperation from Taiwan to China.

In this case of international dynamics, China's diplomacy is a big question for

academics in particular, in this case seeing how they can win over the government of the
Solomon Islands, which arguably has contributors who are very threatened by China's
presence (Australia and the US who are members of the AUKUS, for example) in the Pacific
Region. The Solomon Islands seems to be in a dilemma when considering the approval of
China's security pact by exhibiting behavior that insists that there should be no military base
construction from the country.

From the background explanation, it then raises a problem formulation "How is

China's Negotiation Process in convincing the Solomon Islands to agree to sign a security
pact?" which will be further explained with a theoretical basis as something that is needed so
that the direction is clear in explaining the formulation of the problem formed. Offensive
Realism by John Mearsheimer is a suitable foundation in describing China's position as a
causal actor of tensions that occur in the Indo-Pacific Region. Offensive Realism basically
sees that the goal of a state is more focused on expanding dominance and becoming
hegemony. Mearsheimer himself distinguishes hegemons into two levels of hegemony.
Regional hegemony, where a state has dominance in a certain level of region, while the
second level, global hegemon, is a state that has influence over other countries in the global
system. (Mearsheimer, 2014). In this case, Mearsheimer argues that the international system
requires states to maximize their offensive power to be safe and keep rivals from gaining
power at their advantage. In fact, these systemic incentives are so strong that states will be
the most powerful of all if they can realize their goal of becoming hegemons in the system."
 Only by becoming a hegemony can a state be truly confident of its security. For
Mearsheimer, states seek to maximize power not because they are aggressive, but because
the system requires it - this behavior is the best way to maximize security in an anarchic
world. This will also be seen in the rise of China, which is an explanatory phenomenon for
the nature of the state described by the theory. How China wants to expand its hegemony in
the Indo Pacific Region, especially in this case the South Pacific Region, through the signing
of a security pact with the Salomon Islands. This is well known, even China's movements
have been known by neighboring countries in the region. This is what then makes
researchers then want to explore what tactics China uses in negotiating with the Solomon
Islands.

Art of Negotiation China

Over the past 20 years or so, China has been quite influential in the expansion of its
hegemony, especially in public diplomacy. Actually, China's political system has long been
known as propaganda or in Chinese terms called xuan chuan. There are two levels of xuan chuan
in the Chinese political system. Dui wai xuan or wai xuan can be interpreted as an external
propaganda which is understood as a form of promotion to "sell" the country's image in the
world, while internal propaganda is better understood as nei xuan. Chinese public diplomacy
does not focus on these two levels, but also refers to one of the concepts in the Chinese political
system better known as wai shi or foreign relations. (Rachmawati, 2019). In the understanding of
the country, there is actually no negative connotation intended. This actually gives a meaning,
that China's goal of wanting to expand its hegemony is nothing but to see the world as a harmony
that must be maintained. Of course, if you look at it, this is the thought of Defensive Realism by
Waltz, which sees the state only has two options, and one of them is balancing which is a state
strategy to fight threats internally and externally.

But actually from this explanation there is one thing that needs to be emphasized why
China's position is more inclined to be described using the concept of Offensive Realism by
Meisheimer. In the book Diplomatic Negotiation Essence and Evolution, Meerts explains that the
development of diplomatic negotiations has experienced dialectics and modernization even
before the Treaty of Westphalia. (Mearsheimer, 2014) The concept of Public Diplomacy carried
out by China can be understood not only by understanding how the negotiation process occurred
during the Dynasty era, but the Chinese propaganda system was also adopted through the
Russian socialist-communist system and Nazi Germany. Communism itself spread and
controlled China in 1949 and then entered modernization in 1978 or another term called the open
door policy, where China at that time carried out forms of propaganda by means of ideological
indoctrination, radical 'self' promotion, anti-imperialism, and so on. In addition, the various
strategies used by China are more emphasized on one-way information dissemination without
differentiating targets and media users. (Rachmawati, 2019)

From this explanation, we have seen a little enlightenment on how China is slowly
creating an 'illusion' of expanding its hegemony in the international arena, specifically referring
to China's own interstate relations. Seeing how China is still providing a massive offer for
countries, especially those that are part of the 'Third World' to join the hegemonian program that
China has established since the country decided to expand and conduct diplomatic negotiations
for, by, and for China. Currently, China's policies cannot be separated from internal propaganda,
which is aimed at the domestic public 2 and external propaganda for the public outside the
country.
Office of Foreign Propaganda/ State Council
Information Office

First Office: Liaison with Foreign Media and Public Diplomacy Activities

Second Office: Managing China's international news, researching international public

opinion.

Third Office: Publishing Film and Cultural Exchanges

Fourth Office: Foreign Propaganda, Planning and Research

Fifth Office: Internet Propaganda Policies, Regulation, Activities

Sixth Office: Managers of Foreign Journalists Activities in China

 Seventh Office: Promotes China's Human Rights Activities

Personnel Office

Secretariat Coordinates Policy between Central and Local Level, Admin Work

Source: (Rachmawati, 2019)

In the assessment of the stages of the negotiation process, overall China carried out
several stages as the negotiation process should run. Meerts (2015) in this case explains that the
stages of negotiations must have Planning, Compilation, Data Collection, Alternative Options.
The policies made by China are already part of the stages of the negotiation process formed by
China in carrying out a diplomatic negotiation. This then becomes a basic prefix to know when
later looking at how China negotiates with the Solomon Islands. In the book Essentials of
Negotiation, China's negotiation process with the Solomon Islands can be analyzed through four
main steps in an integrative negotiation process (Lewicki et al., 2016). Where when working
together to create value, negotiators need to understand the problem, identify the interests and
needs of both parties, and come up with alternative solutions. The fourth step of the integrative
negotiation process, evaluation and selection of alternatives, involves value. Through this stage
we will see the political negotiation process carried out by China towards the Solomon Islands.

Source: (Lewicki et al., 2016)

China's art of negotiation is a guide for China on how to approach the country with the
Pacific Region in order to hegemonize its power. Most of the islands in the region see that
China's presence has a major impact on the economic and investment sustainability of several
islands in the Pacific region. In the book China in Oceania, there are several successful
investments made by China, especially in the natural resource extraction industry such as fishing,
forestry, and mining, even establishing textile shops in Pacific Island countries such as Fiji to
take advantage of their access to markets in Australia and New Zealand. China has also provided
economic assistance through loans. In April 2006, for example, during the first Ministerial
Conference of the China-Pacific Island Countries Economic Development and Cooperation
Forum in Fiji, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao expressed his country's commitment to its Pacific
Island allies and pledged that the country would, among other things, provide 3 billion yuan in
preferential loans in the next three years to boost cooperation in resource development,
agriculture, forestry, fisheries, tourism, textile and consumer product manufacturing,
telecommunications and aviation and ocean shipping. The Chinese government will also set up a
special fund to encourage Chinese companies to invest in Pacific island countries. (Kabutaulaka,
2010).

Solomon Islands Dilemma and China's "Propaganda" Negotiations

In knowing what is the value of China's negotiations with the Solomon Islands, we need
to identify and understand the actor's problem through the history of diplomacy between the two
countries. Diplomacy between China and the Solomon Islands has actually been going on for a
long time, even before the Solomon Islands' diplomatic transition from Taiwan to China. Here it
will be examined how diplomacy between the two countries occurred and how the diplomacy
resulted in a form of negotiation which then formed a security pact agreement between China
and Solomon Islands under the Sogavare government. Solomon Islands achieved and enjoyed
their independence in 1978. At the beginning of independence, diplomacy between Solomon
Islands and China began, where in April 1982, Ezekiel Alebua3 visited China for talks that were
expected to lead to the establishment of diplomatic relations. However, at the same time the
Solomon Islands was establishing diplomatic relations with Taiwan, which at that time had
immediately inaugurated diplomatic relations through the establishment of a headquarters in
Taipei. This then led to competition between China and Taiwan in gaining the hearts of the
Solomon Islands which made the first diplomatic problem faced by the Solomon Islands at the
beginning of its independence.

Yet trade conducted by China is far more lucrative for Solomon Islands than diplomatic
relations conducted by Taiwan. This is why the Democratic Alliance Party (DAP) of prime
minister Ricky Houenipwela announced at their convention that they will review Solomon
Islands' diplomatic relations with Taiwan if they are re-elected to government in the April 2019
national elections. Ahead of the April 2019 election, Solomon Islands is at a political crossroads

The reasons why other countries have cut ties with Taiwan since the pro-independence
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won the presidential election in 2016 cannot be ignored.
Since the end of the DPP's informal diplomatic truce with Taiwan's other major political party -
the nationalist Kuomintang Party4 - even more countries have shifted their diplomatic ties from
Taiwan to China, where this proves that China's economic power is an impetus that reflects these
countries' desire to follow the global trend, where most countries recognize China, an economic
and political superpower that cannot be ignored.

The election results in April 2019 also showed the victory of Manasseh Sogagarave - a
key actor in the security pact agreement with China. He formed the Democratic Coalition
Government for Advancement (DCGA) coalition5 and in the coalition's deliberations stated that it
would review its development partners and engage in a 'comprehensive assessment of Chinese
issues'. In the past decade, there have been new innovations in Chinese aid and investment in the
Pacific Islands region and the alleged security threats they pose. This has led to suspicions or one
could say negative indications from neighboring countries as if aid from other donors has not
also created a dependency syndrome among Pacific Island countries. This security threat has
been largely manufactured, stoking fears led mainly by some Australian media and think-tanks
stoking fears among Australia, New Zealand and the Western security axis. The Pacific Islands
are important from a traditional security perspective because they provide a buffer against
forward attacks on Australia and New Zealand, as well as because China's involvement in the
Pacific Islands region is increasingly seen as a threat to historic Western dominance.(Lyons,
2022). The power struggle between the Western axis and China in recent years has resulted in
increased support to the Pacific Islands region, particularly in infrastructure and military aid. All
Western Axis countries have increased their involvement; even the UK has reopened diplomatic
posts in Tonga, Vanuatu and Samoa. Australia, New Zealand, the United States have all
increased their aid and shored up their security apparatus, arguably increasing the aid
dependency of Pacific Island countries at a time when they need to reduce their dependency and
become more self-reliant in terms of their economic and social well-being.(Cave, 2022)
 Departing from this problem, the Solomon Islands decided to pledge its diplomatic
relations with China through an agreement on a security pact as an affirmation of diplomatic
principles. When viewed how the form of negotiations offered by China to the Solomon Islands
is more about giving influence to the Solomon Islands in terms of economy and trade.

Trade differences between Solomon Islands and Taiwan and Solomon Islands and China
(Aqorau, 2021)

This incident then made the Solomon Islands decide to enter into a security pact
agreement with China because it felt that China provided a glimmer of hope for the future of the
Solomon Islands. China's behavior in diplomacy between the two countries can be considered as
an aggressive country. China itself creates an image of itself as part of a third country, in this
case part of the South-South 6 , where these countries have roots in economic and trade
needs.China began to "propagandize" the Chinese Islands with its capitalist policies which was
the main factor in the emergence of an agreement and the signing of a Security Pact between the
two countries. This was actually a form of suspicion followed by some draft agreements leaked
online7 saying it would allow China to send armed forces to the Solomon Islands to protect
Chinese investments, while also providing a loophole that their warships would also be allowed
to dock in the islands.

What then becomes the core of the negotiation process here is how China shows the
value and behavior of the negotiation process. Unlike the West, China tries to propagandize by
becoming the economic savior of the South Pacific, in this case the Solomon Islands. China
wants to become a regional hegemon in the Indo-Pacific Region. This then becomes China's
Interests and Needs. Then what about the Solomon Islands? The interests and needs of the
Solomon Islands are the economic assistance provided by China in helping to revive the
country's survival, which is what China wants the countries in the South-South membership to
see as a form of propaganda to hegemonize China as a savior figure of third world countries.

After knowing each of the interests of the two diplomatic negotiation actors, then they
see an alternative form so that the two actors can meet their respective interests. Specifically, this
is what determines the Solomon Islands' decision to strengthen its cooperation with China. The
alternative form taken by Sogavare in this case is to agree to China's security pact offer, which is
an alternative form of Solomon Islands in maintaining the economic assistance provided by
China. While the Chinese state sees an alternative form of expanding its hegemony is to
convince the Solomon Islands through forms of economic assistance and trade cooperation
between the two countries, so that one way to pledge it is by making a security pact, so that also
in this case there is no distortion or interference from western countries in trying to drop the
country's propaganda. This then forms a Win-win Solution between the two countries. The
typical negotiation approach formed by China is Nonspecific Compensation, which is China's
way of negotiating by allowing one country (in this case the Solomon Islands) to obtain its goals
and compensate the country for accommodating its interests.

For such an approach to work well, the compensating country needs to know what is
valuable to the Solomon Islands and what is needed for the Solomon Islands to feel prosperous in
signing cooperation (in this case through a security pact).
 Signing a Security Pact as the Preferred Alternative Form.

The security pact between China and the Solomon Islands triggered a lot of opposition,
especially the Solomon Islands' neighboring countries such as Australia, New Zealand and even
the United States nimbly intervened in response to China's actions, which in the game theory
perspective of the western 'camp' countries considered deterrence or vibration in seeing the form
of expansion of the bamboo curtain country. Seeing what China has done in the South China Sea
gives the impression that the signing of the China-Solomon Islands security pact is the beginning
of the destruction of the South Pacific region, as China has done to the islands in the South China
Sea. The Solomon Islands seemed to provide a significant gap for China in expanding its power
in Pacific waters, and externally also sparked the fire for the United States as a regional hegemon
actor in the South Pacific region8 .

However, in the negotiation process, this then became one part of the external
propoganda carried out by China against the Solomon Islands. One interesting thing about the
issues raised is how China's behavior in seeking relations to expand its power to control the
South Pacific Region, in this case through the Solomon Islands. This then resulted in a beginning
of power in dividing the role of the West in the South Pacific Region. We can clearly see the
warnings and strong opposition from neighboring countries that are part of the western camp.
Even the United States intervened to ensure that the visionary principle of the Free and Open
Indo-Pacific Region took place properly between the two countries. This formed phenomenon
proves that Sun Tzu's words in seeing the relationship between negotiation and war. The
statement proves that negotiation is a very useful tool in warfare. Where he used to make
alliances with forces to fight against a common enemy.' (Meerts, 2015).

Exposed documents of the Sino-Solomon Islands security pact provide that "Solomon
Islands may, in accordance with its own needs, request China to send police, armed police,
military and law enforcement personnel and other armed forces to Solomon Islands to help
maintain social order, protect people's lives and property.

This allows China to pursue various interests and requires confidentiality, noting,
"Neither party will disclose cooperation information to third parties." It was this statement that
led the leader of the opposition party in the Solomon Islands parliament to summarize his
concerns by saying that the non-transparency of this security pact agreement would lead to bad
and disastrous results for the survival of the people of the Chinese Islands 9

With the agreement under the security pact, China can do

anything according to the needs of its interests under the Solomon
Islands agreement to conduct ship visits and logistics
replenishment and have stopovers and transitions in the Solomon
Islands and the Solomon Islands will be willing to provide all the
needs of the Bamboo Curtain Country.

The Sogavare government quickly signed agreements

giving Chinese companies the right to build roads and bridges, and
to reopen one of the country's gold mines. A Chinese company
even tried to lease the entire island of Tulagi. The deal was
eventually deemed illegal, after critics rose up in anger. Residents
of Tulagi and Malaita, an island province where local leaders have
expressed strong opposition to China, say that bribes are constantly paid by Beijing proxies with
bags of cash and promises of bribes to senior leaders often made during all-expenses-paid trips to
China.

Conclusion

The phenomenon occurring in the South Pacific Region, particularly the Solomon
Islands, is one that is heavily shaped by China's elite capture mechanisms and missed
diplomatic opportunities. For example, the United States only announced in February 2022
that it plans to reopen the Solomon Islands Embassy, which has been closed since 1993. The
slow, inconsistent and business-as-usual approach has failed. This attention to the Pacific is
long overdue, but will come at a heavy price. While responding to China's offer of a security
pact agreement to the Solomon Islands alone, a US State Department spokesperson issued a
statement on Saturday criticizing the proposed agreement with the People's Republic of
China 10 . In the sense that the United States is even less dexterous and less skillful in
conducting close diplomacy with the Solomon Islands.
 In the words of Solomon Islands opposition leader Matthew Wale, Sogavare
considers "China to be a genie incarnate that will act on its beck and call." And in this he has
let this genie out of the bottle by signing the Chinese security agreement; now the cost to his
country, and his region, may be much higher than he bargained for.

This is what Meisheimer also emphasizes about the rise of China. The country has its
own characteristics in extending its influence. By following Deng Xiaoping's famous maxim
that China keeps a low profile and avoids getting involved in international conflicts as much
as possible, which is captured in the phrase "Hide our capacity and bide our time, but also get
some things done." (Mearsheimer, 2014). The plausible reason for China to bide its time is
that if it avoids trouble and just keeps growing economically, it will eventually become so
powerful that it can get on track to succeed in expanding its power. And this also poses a
major threat to the security of the western axis (Australia, New Zealand and the United
States).

The Integrative Negotiation process established by China in leading the Solomon

Islands to the signing and approval of the security pact resulted in something that benefited
both negotiating parties. This is because for integrative negotiations to succeed, the parties
must be motivated to collaborate in order to secure their respective interests. There needs to
be a commitment to achieving goals that benefit them both rather than just pursuing their
own goals. They must adopt an interpersonal style that is more agreeable than aggressive,
more open and trusting than evasive and defensive, more flexible (but firm) than stubborn
(but yielding). Specifically, they must be willing to make their own needs explicit, to identify
commonalities, and to recognize and accept differences. They must also tolerate uncertainty
and dare to reveal inconsistencies.
.