Australia to boost police support to Solomon Islands amid competition with China

SYDNEY: Australia will provide over $100 million to the Solomon Islands to expand its police force so the Pacific Islands nation, which also has security ties with China, can reduce its reliance on external partners, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.

The US and Australia have been racing to limit China’s security ambitions in the strategically located region ever since Solomon Islands’ then-leader Manasseh Sogavare signed a security deal with Beijing in 2022.

Albanese told reporters in Canberra on Friday the A$190 million ($118 million) funding commitment to expand the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force over four years, with training and infrastructure, showed Australia was the “security partner of choice” to the Solomon Islands.

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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 hosted a small Chinese police presence since 2022.

A new contingent arrived in the capital Honiara last month.

Australian police had provided security in Solomon Islands from 2003 to 2017 at the request of the archipelago’s government after internal conflict, and returned in 2021 to help quell riots and support national elections this year.

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

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

“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.

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.

The Pacific Islands Forum agreed in August to form a regional policing strategy, where its 18 member nations boost police numbers and provide security within the “Pacific family”.

China is not a member of the forum.

Australia has signed a flurry of funding and security deals with its Pacific Island neighbours in December, amid uncertainty over the foreign policy approach of the incoming US administration under Donald Trump.

Among these, a police funding deal with Nauru gives Australia veto over China using its port and airport for security purposes, and a sports deal with Papua New Guinea can be scrapped if it forms police ties with China.