SYDNEY (Reuters) – A United States Coast Guard vessel was unable to enter the Solomon Islands for a routine port visit because the Solomon Islands government did not respond to a request for supplies and fuel, a U.S. official said. The islands’ government did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Solomon Islands has had strained relations with the United States and its allies since it struck a security deal with China in May. The USCGC Oliver Henry was on an illegal fishing patrol in the South Pacific for a regional fisheries service when it failed to enter Honiara, the capital of the Solomon Islands, to refuel, a US Coast Guard press officer told Reuters in an emailed statement. Instead, the US ship diverted to Papua New Guinea, the official said. The British navy declined to comment on social media reports that the patrol vessel HMS Spey, which was also involved in Operation Island Chief to monitor illegal fishing in the economic exclusion zones of Fiji, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, it had no port access from the Solomon Islands. “Ship schedules are under constant review and it is normal practice for them to change. For operational security reasons we do not discuss details,” a Royal Navy spokesman said in an emailed statement. Solomon’s government and Beijing have ruled out a Chinese military base on the islands, although a leaked draft showed the security agreement would allow the Chinese navy to dock and refit. The fisheries agency for the Pacific Islands Forum, a 17-nation Pacific bloc, has a marine surveillance center in Honiara and conducts annual illegal fishing surveillance operations with the help of Australia, the United States, New Zealand and France. The USCGC Oliver Henry was scheduled for a routine logistics port visit in the Solomon Islands, Kristin Kam, public relations officer for the US Coast Guard in Hawaii, told Reuters in an emailed statement. The story continues “The Solomon Islands government has not responded to the US government’s request for diplomatic permission to supply and refuel the ship in Honiara,” he said. “The US State Department is in contact with the Solomon Islands government and expects all future permits to be granted to US vessels,” he added. HMS Spey had Fijian naval officers on board as it worked alongside long-range maritime patrol aircraft from Australia and New Zealand and the US Coast Guard in the Pacific Forum Islands Fisheries Service intelligence-gathering operation, the Royal Navy said in a statement Thursday . It conducted inspections of suspicious vessels in ports as well as boardings at sea, the statement said. A Royal Navy spokesman said it “looks forward to visiting the Solomon Islands at a later date”. (Reporting by Kirsty Needham; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)
