bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

sponsorType

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

Agence France-Presse

Australia said on Friday it has agreed to help boost Solomon Islands’ police force with a multi-year funding, training and infrastructure package for the Pacific nation, which has fostered close ties with China.
But in a sign of the competition it faces from Beijing, the Solomons police announced the same day it had received a modest donation from China for its police support fund.
The Australian deal – valued at A$190 million (US$118 million) over four years – will include the construction of a new police training centre in the Solomons’ capital Honiara, Canberra said.
It represents a “new foundation for Australia’s security partnership with the Solomon Islands”, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told a news conference.
“What we have done is ensure that Australia remains the security partner of choice.”
Albanese said he sealed the agreement in discussions with Solomon Islands Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele.
Manele’s predecessor switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 2019.
Three years later, the archipelago signed a secretive security deal with Beijing that raised alarm in Western capitals over China’s expanding influence in the Pacific.
Beijing’s move sparked a flurry of diplomatic activity by the United States, Australia and other allies to cement closer relations with strategically placed South Pacific nations.


Albanese said his country was proud to make a “significant investment” in the Solomons police so they could take primary responsibility for their own security.
“This partnership will strengthen the Solomon Islands domestic security, but it will also enhance its ability to contribute to regional stability,” he said.
Despite Australia’s overtures, Solomon Islands ties with China remain tight.
The Solomons police issued a statement within hours of Australia’s announcement, saying the Chinese embassy had given its police support fund a donation equal to about US$18,000 to help officers in tough times.
It was testimony to China’s “genuine relationship with Solomon Islands”, said Ian Vaevaso, police deputy commissioner for national security.
The Australian deal will deliver “much-needed support” for Solomons police but falls short of securing a more exclusive relationship, said Mihai Sora, Pacific analyst at the Sydney-based Lowy Institute think tank.
It would not commit the Solomons to “diminish or scale back” ties with China – as had been the case in recent deals Australia signed with Nauru, Papua New Guinea and Tuvalu, he said.
“It is weaker than the other commitments,” Sora said.

China has been offering its own training and hardware to the Solomons police.
It maintains a small but conspicuous police presence in the country, sending a revolving cadre of officers to train locals in shooting and riot tactics.
Local police, numbering 1,500 for a population of about 720,000, appeared overwhelmed when anti-government protests turned violent in Honiara in November 2021.
The riots left at least three people dead and much of the capital’s Chinatown district in ruins.
On a visit to Australia in June, Sogavare raised the country’s policing needs with Albanese.
In a joint statement, the leaders said the Solomons had asked Australia to help it double the size of its police force to 3,000 over a decade, with a longer-term goal of reaching 5,000.


Australia strikes US$118 million policing deal with China-friendly Solomon Islands

Hong Kong stocks stuck in the doldrums as traders look for drivers to boost sentiment

Quad plans to hold joint coastguard training to counter China in Indo-Pacific: experts

Hong Kong shares fall after Fed signals slower easing next year

Australia

Australian soldiers and federal police officers in Honiara, Solomon Islands. Photo: AP

Chinese officers train the Solomons police in rifle tactics. File photo: AFP

Aircraft carriers and warships participate in the second phase of Malabar naval exercise, a joint exercise comprising India, US, Japan and Australia, in the Northern Arabian Sea in November 2020. Photo: Indian Navy/AP

Indian army fighter jets on the deck of an aircraft carrier during the second phase of the Malabar naval exercise in the Arabian Sea. Photo: Indian Navy/AFP

From left, Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, US President Joe Biden, and Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, at the Quad leaders summit in Delaware on September. 21. Photo: AP

Trump’s Mar-a-Lago dinner with Shinzo Abe’s widow raises questions about Japan-US ties

US president-elect Donald Trump (left) is seen with Akie Abe, wife of slain former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and former first lady, Melania Trump. Photo: X/MELANIATRUMP

SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son smiles with president-elect Donald Trump during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, on December 16. Photo: AP

Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Donald Trump. Photo: Instagram/realdonaldtrump

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba. Photo: Kyodo

Okinawa governor demands US Marines relocation deadline amid regional security challenges

Japan-based US Marine Corps soldiers embark an aircraft in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, southern Japan, in November 2013. Photo: EPA

Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki holds a press conference in Naha on June 6. Photo: Kyodo

US Marine Air Station Futenma in Ginowan, Okinawa, southern Japan. Photo: Kyodo

News

Asia

Australasia

Australian PM Albanese called the pact a ‘new foundation’ for Canberra’s security ties with Honiara as Beijing’s clout in the Pacific grows


Australian PM Albanese called the pact a ‘new foundation’ for Canberra’s security ties with Honiara as Beijing’s clout in the Pacific grows.


China-Australia relations

Solomon Islands

Pacific nations