No response to US coastguard request to refuel in Solomon Islands | Al Jazeera

A United States Coast Guard vessel was unable to make a routine port call in the Solomon Islands because the country’s government did not respond to a request for it to refuel and provision, a US official said.

The Solomon Islands has had a tense relationship with the US and its allies since agreeing to a security pact with China in May.

The USCGC Oliver Henry was on patrol for illegal fishing in the South Pacific for a regional fisheries agency when it failed to obtain entry to refuel at Honiara, the Solomon Islands capital, a US Coast Guard press officer told Reuters in an emailed statement.

The US vessel was diverted to Papua New Guinea instead, the official said.