Sawt Falasteen - Australia agrees deal to strengthen Solomons police

The deal includes Aus$190 million (US$118 million) in financing over four years and will see 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.

"My government is proud to make a significant investment in the police force of the Solomon Islands to ensure that they can continue to take primary responsibility for security in the Solomons," Albanese said.

"This partnership will strengthen the Solomon Islands domestic security, but it will also enhance its ability to contribute to regional stability."

The deal will deliver "much-needed support" for law and order in the Solomons, said Mihai Sora, director of the Sydney-based Lowy Institute think tank's Pacific Islands program.

"Australia is seeking to woo the Solomon Island government to make inroads," he said.

But the agreement did not include commitments that would "diminish or scale back" the country's ties with China -- as had been the case in recent deals Australia signed with Nauru, Papua New Guinea and Tuvalu, he said.

"The agreement today is progress but it falls short of the overall objective of securing Australia's place in a more exclusive way," Sora said.

- Local police overwhelmed -

Canberra and Washington were caught napping in 2022 when Beijing signed a secretive security pact with Solomon Islands -- the details of which largely remain under wraps.

China has also been offering 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, Manele raised the country's policing needs with Albanese.

In a joint statement at the time, 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.

F.AbuZaid--SF-PST