Under the cover of a global pandemic and aided by years of indifference by Canberra and Washington towards the region, this week China has quietly secured a military presence in the Pacific.  And for China, this cements a long-held ambition to shift the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific.  But this Solomon Islands security pact with China has been labelled as  “unnecessary and not needed” by an Opposition MP of the Pacific nation who is against the move. This Opposition MP – Peter Kenilorea Junior, who also chairs the Foreign Relations Committee joins Chris to talk about China now appears to have got what it wanted, not by force but by stealth and by utilising its economic power to influence the more pliable politicians. Peter shares his ideas on how his father – the first Prime Minister of an independent Solomon Islands who served two terms in the 70s and 80s – would have been saddened at this loss of independence.