Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong warned of the regional implications of the Solomon Islands security pact with China, Reuters reported.

Wong said her visit to Fiji is meant to demonstrate the priority the new Australian government places on the Pacific region.

Australia respects that Pacific nations make their own decisions about who to cooperate with, she said, but is concerned about the implications of the Solomon Islands security pact.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said a day earlier that slander and attacks on the security pact will lead to a dead end, and any interference and sabotage is doomed to failure.

According to him, the security pact aims to help the Solomon Islands improve its police and law enforcement capacity and support the Solomon Islands in improving the protection of its social security, and to protect the safety of Chinese citizens and institutions in the Solomon Islands.

He noted that China was not going to place a military base there. China supports the Pacific island countries in strengthening security cooperation and working together to resolve regional security issues, he said.

At a meeting in Fiji next week, Wang Yi will seek to strike a wide-ranging security and trade deal with the 10 island nations, further unnerving the United States and its Pacific allies.