PM announces $190m security deal with Solomon Islands

The Albanese government has secured a $190 million security deal with Solomon Islands, nearly three years after the Pacific nation signed a security agreement with China, as the third deal in a concerted Australian push to counter Beijing’s growing influence in the region.

But the future of 14 Chinese police officers stationed on the Solomons remains unclear, as does the status of a security deal inked between the two nations in April 2022, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese insisting Australia was the Solomons’ security “partner of choice”.

Anthony Albanese and Jeremiah Manele at Parliament House in June.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

In a joint statement, Albanese and Solomon Islands Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele said the pact to support the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force “reflects Australia’s role as Solomon Islands’ security partner of choice”.

“The support responds to Solomon Islands’ strong desire to build an enduring sovereign security capability, thereby reducing its reliance on external partners over time,” the statement said.

Manele had requested funds to double the size of the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force from 1,500 to 3,000 officers during a visit to Canberra in June.

“This partnership will strengthen the Solomon Islands’ domestic security, but it will also enhance its ability to contribute to regional stability,” Albanese said at a press conference in Canberra on Friday morning.

Asked if Chinese police officers were still in the Solomons, Albanese responded: “We have agreements with the Solomon Islands, and part of that is making sure that Australia remains the security partner of choice.”

Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham said the deal required scrutiny “given the range of agreements signed between the Solomon Islands and China”.

Mihai Sora, director of the Pacific Islands Program at the Lowy Institute think tank, said the security sector in Solomon Islands remained “highly contested”.

“It keeps Australia in the game, but it won’t slow the pace of the competition,” he said of the funding announcement.

“Manele has agreed to extra law and order support from Australia, but he has not committed to diminishing his country’s security partnerships with China, which remains the main objective for Canberra.”

The $190 million, four-year deal is the third this month to bind Australia closer to Pacific nations, following deals with Papua New Guinea and Nauru.

The Albanese government’s strong view is that China does not have a place or a role to play in Pacific security. Following recent elections in Kiribati, Australia is also looking to strengthen security ties with that nation, which has deepened ties with Beijing over the past five years.

But government officials remained tight-lipped about whether the Solomons’ deal meant the 14 Chinese police officers would leave, or whether a deal with Australia would void or override the security pact former prime minister Manasseh Sogavare signed with Beijing in April 2022. The funding promise is not contingent on those Chinese security officials leaving the country first.

Sogavare, once the most pro-China leader in the Pacific, was replaced by Manele after the nation’s election in April this year. Manele stared down a no-confidence motion in his parliament three days ago, but Australia is confident the pact would survive any further government changes.

Manele had first outlined details of the deal in the Solomons’ parliament earlier this week.

The Solomons’ police force was overrun when riots broke out in the capital, Honiara, and the province of Malaita in November 2021, fuelled by an economic crisis and local anti-Chinese sentiment.

The agreement Sogavare signed with China included a commitment from Beijing to strengthen the Pacific nation’s police force, and allowed for a Chinese military presence in Solomon Islands, a first for the South Pacific.

Former foreign affairs minister Marise Payne was criticised for not visiting the Solomons at the time, in what proved to be an issue at the 2022 election.

The Solomons deal follows a treaty signed with Nauru on December 9, blocking China and other countries from striking any security or telecommunications deals in exchange for $140 million in financial support.

On December 12, Australia announced $600 million in support over the next 10 years for the long-anticipated Papua New Guinea rugby league team, which will enter the NRL from 2028.

The PNG deal allows the Australian government to terminate the agreement if PNG strikes a security or policing pact with China or other rival nations.

with Reuters

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