By Kirsty Needham
SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australia will provide over $100 million to help the Solomon Islands, which also has security ties with China, expand its police force so it can reduce its reliance on external partners, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Friday.
The U.S. and Australia have been racing to limit China’s security ambitions in the Pacific Islands ever since the Solomon Islands’ then-leader, Manasseh Sogavare, signed a security deal with Beijing in 2022.
Albanese told reporters in Canberra the four-year, A$190 million ($118 million) commitment showed Australia was the Solomon Islands’ “security partner of choice”.
The move “responds to Solomon Islands’ strong desire to build an enduring sovereign security capability, thereby reducing its reliance on external partners over time”, Albanese and his Solomon Islands counterpart Jeremiah Manele said in a joint statement.
Solomon Islands has had a small Chinese police contingent since 2022.
Australian police had provided security from 2003 to 2017 at the request of the archipelago’s government after internal conflict. They returned in 2021, helping to quell riots and supporting national elections this year.
Manele had asked Australia for funds to double the size of the Solomons’ police to 3,000 officers.
A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson told reporters: “No country should regard the Pacific Islands countries as its own backyard, but [they] should complement each other’s strengths …
“We hope that the parties concerned will earnestly respect the independence and sovereignty of the island countries and refrain from interfering in their internal affairs.”
Mihai Sora, director of the Pacific Islands Program at the Lowy Institute think tank, said the security sector in Solomon Islands remains “highly contested”, and that the funding “keeps Australia in the game, but it won’t slow the pace of the competition.”
“Prime Minister 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,” he added.
Albanese said Australia’s support would boost domestic security, but also enhance the Islands’ “ability to contribute to regional stability.”
The 18-nation Pacific Islands Forum agreed in August to form a regional policing strategy, boosting numbers and providing security within the “Pacific family”. China is not a member.
Australia has signed a flurry of funding and security deals with its Pacific Island neighbours in December, amid uncertainty over the approach of the incoming U.S. administration under Donald Trump.
A police funding deal with Nauru gives Australia a veto over China using its port and airport for security purposes, and a sports deal with Papua New Guinea can be scrapped if the country establishes police ties with China.
($1 = 1.6062 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Kirsty Needham in Sydney, Additional reporting by Mei Mei Chu in Beijing; Editing by Lincoln Feast, Sonali Paul and Kevin Liffey)
