The China-Solomon Islands agreement as an opening move

How will the China-Solomon Islands agreement affect Australia's response to a Taiwan crisis?

It opens a longer strategic contest and could make the Solomon Islands an exposed target in any wider maritime war.

Australia and its partners were slow to recognize the strategic contest developing around the agreement. It could affect an Australian response to a Taiwan crisis, though the precise consequences would depend on later political and military decisions. The Solomon Islands could also become occupied or contested if a wider war turned China's maritime partners into exposed outposts. The comparison with Germany's overseas partners in the First World War stresses the vulnerability of distant allies once their supporting navy is contained.