Solomon Islands secures $100m China loan to build Huawei mobile towers in historic step

This will be the first loan from China since the Pacific country switched allegiance from Taiwan in 2019

The Solomon Islands government has secured a $66m (A$96m) loan from China to build 161 mobile communication towers, which will be built and supplied by Chinese telco giant Huawei.

It is the Pacific country's first loan from Beijing since it switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to China in 2019 and is a significant bilateral development between the two countries, which signed a secretive and controversial security deal earlier this year.