Solomon Islands prime minister lashes Australia over AUKUS security pact

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has suggested Manasseh Sogavare is parroting China’s talking points after the Solomon Islands leader accused Australia of blindsiding him over the announcement of the AUKUS security pact and refusing to protect the Chinese-built infrastructure during last year’s riots in the country.

Sogavare’s outburst in parliament on Friday sparked Morrison to defend his handling of the AUKUS agreement with Britain and the United States, saying he spoke to the Solomons prime minister the day after the announcement “and no issues were raised at that time in that discussion”.

Manasseh Sogavare, Prime Minister of Solomon Islands, crticised Australia’s lack of consultation over the AUKUS agreement.Credit: AP

“But obviously, as time goes on and new relationships are entered into, there’s obviously been some... other influences in the perspective taken by the Solomon Islands prime minister,” Morrison said.

Asked if Sogavare was parroting China’s rhetoric, Morrison said: “there’s a remarkable similarity”.

Morrison also defended the actions of the Australian Defence Force and Australian Federal Police personnel who were sent to the Solomons following violent riots in November last year.

“We were the first call when those things occurred in December and we would be so again,” he said.

“And it’s our AFP that are on the ground there right now, preserving that peace, which was restored.”

Australia has been critical of a recently signed security pact signed between Beijing and Honiara, fearing it could pave the way for a permanent Chinese military presence in the Pacific island nation and criticising the Chinese government for insisting the text of the agreement be kept secret.

In the nation’s parliament on Friday, Sogavare criticised Canberra’s lack of consultation with Pacific countries before announcing the AUKUS defence technology sharing pact.

“I learnt of the AUKUS treaty in the media, Mr Speaker. One would expect that as a member of the Pacific family, Solomon Islands and members of the Pacific should have been consulted to ensure this AUKUS treaty is transparent since it will affect the Pacific family by allowing nuclear submarines in Pacific waters,” Sogavare said.

“Oh, but Mr Speaker, I realise that Australia is a sovereign country, which can enter into any treaty it wants to, transparently or not. Which is exactly what they did with AUKUS.

“When Australia signed up to AUKUS, Mr Speaker, we did not become theatrical or hysterical … about the implications this would have for us. We respected Australia’s decision.”

Sogavare then said: “And I’m glad that Australia, the United States and Japan respected our sovereignty to enter into this security agreement with China as well.”

More than 100 members of the Australian Federal Police and Australian Defence Force were sent to the Solomons to help Sogavare quell the violent uprising.

But Sogavare repeated his criticism that Australia refused to protect the Chinese embassy and Chinese-built infrastructure, adding he was “deeply disappointed” that Australia had issued a “blatant denial”.

He said Canberra gave “clear instructions” to not protect the infrastructure and called it a “blunder”.

The Australian government has previously denied any suggestion it refused to protect any infrastructure during the riots.

Sogavare said his nation’s current security treaty with Australia was “inadequate” because it “did not manage to contain the November riots”, the impact of which almost “crippled” the country.

The Australian government is now rethinking its approach to the Solomons after the country’s security pact with China.

Australia’s top spy, Andrew Shearer, earlier this week said there would be concerns with “unity of command” on the ground if Australian and Chinese forces had to operate side-by-side.

“Unity of command is always desirable in any security operation, and confusion around unity of command is an issue,” the director-general of the Office of National Intelligence, the nation’s peak intelligence agency, said.

“We are also concerned that, in such a fragile, volatile country, Chinese policing techniques and tactics that we have seen deployed so ruthlessly in Hong Kong, for example, are completely inconsistent with the Pacific way of resolving issues and could incite further instability and violence in the Solomon Islands.”

The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up here.