Source : Perth Now news
Australia and the Solomon Islands have committed to “elevate” their relationship in a “comprehensive treaty” and boost police co-operation in a massive upset years after the Pacific Island nation was drawn closer to China.
Solomon Islands Prime Minister Matthew Wale arrived in Australia on Tuesday, less than a month after taking the reins of the nation.
The visit marks the latest turn in a sometimes fraught relationship between Australia and the Solomon Islands, which signed a secretive security pact with China in 2022.
China deployed police to train local officers following civil unrest that year, while Australia also retains an Australian Federal Police presence.
While Australia and the Solomon Islands have maintained a bilateral security agreement since 2017, it is understood Canberra was seeking to establish a more robust deal, or at least a pathway to one.
Australia remains the Solomon Islands’ biggest aid donor.
On Wednesday, Anthony Albanese said the two leaders had “committed to elevate our bilateral relationship at the request of the Solomon Islands”.
“This will be agreed in a new comprehensive treaty underpinned by mutual trust, respect and open dialogue,” the Prime Minister said.
“This treaty will allow Australia and the Solomon Islands to confront global and regional challenges as partners.
“This is a significant body of work we have asked our foreign ministers to lead and drive this forward.”
Mr Albanese said the two nations had also agreed to move to the next phase of the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force-Australian Federal Police Partnership Program, “building capability and strengthening policing co-operation”.
“This builds on the Pacific policing initiative that we launched at the Pacific Island Forum just a couple of years ago,” Mr Albanese said.
Mr Albanese said he wanted Australia to be the “security partner of choice” for the Solomon Islands.
As a deal is hashed out, Australia will provide $35m to assist the Solomon Islands in its response to Cyclone Maila and “the impacts of global energy shocks”.
Australia has also agreed to double the number of training and vocational scholarships to 1500 in 2027.
‘Reset’ in relationship
Mr Wale struck a warm tone, describing the Solomon Islands as “Australia’s friend”.
“Has always been and always will be,” he said.
Mr Wale said he had sought a “reset” in the relationship.
“I’m sure you’ll be popping questions about the last few years, and we have had some issues and all relationships go through issues, bumps here and there,” he said.
“But the resilience of our relationship, I think, is self-evident.
“It lies in our people-to-people contacts and, of course, in our institutional relations over so many years, perhaps even more than a century.
“It is not easy to break that kind of, the depth and the strength of such a relationship.”
Mr Wale said he was happy with the “grand welcome”.
“It was very moving,” he said.
Mr Wale, a long-time opposition leader, was elected prime minister last month after pro-China Jeremiah Manelee was ousted in a vote of no-confidence.
He has previously been critical of the Solomon Islands’ deal with China and called for it to be made public, but has recently softened his stance.
Asked whether he still sought to have that deal made public or if the agreement should be changed, Mr Wale said he “had to remove certain people from key positions”.
“I haven’t been afforded a copy even of that agreement until a day before I left, so I haven’t had a good look at it,” he said.“I have been praying and fasting about it, but of course, you know, cabinet will need to have a look at these things.
“There is a non-disclosure clause in it, so I couldn’t show it to you right away, but we are going to be reviewing, as we are reviewing other security agreements that we have with many other countries.”
Asked about Chinese investment, Mr Wale said the Solomon Islands would look to Australia and others “so we can build critical infrastructure and have sovereign control over them”.
He said the Pacific island nation had recently signed an agreement with the US and would also be looking to the US for financing for critical infrastructure.
Mr Wale’s visit – his first overseas trip and remarkable early into his tenure – comes as he remains on a knife edge, with only 26 parliamentarians voting for him in the 50-seat assembly.
Australia has faced an increasingly hawkish China in the Pacific, with Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong previously admitting to a “permanent contest” in the region between the two powers as the United States’ traditional aid influence wanes.
Late last year, the $500m Nakamal Agreement with Vanuatu was put on ice amid pushback from Beijing.
A revised agreement – which will likely include security, climate, and economic arrangements – is in the works, though Port Vila is also seeking a parallel deal with China.
In May, Senator Wong said the Vuvale Union with Fiji was in its final stretch.
Australia also last year signed a wide-reaching security pact with Papua New Guinea.
