By Peter Hobson
CANBERRA, June 3 (Reuters) – The Solomon Islands will negotiate a comprehensive strategic treaty with Australia and review a security agreement with China, the Pacific country’s new prime minister said on Wednesday.
Matthew Wale is a veteran opposition figure who has been critical of China in the past. His visit to Canberra comes less than three weeks after he became leader of the archipelago nation 1,600 km (1,000 miles) northeast of Australia.
The Solomon Islands is seen as the nation with the closest ties to Beijing among the strategically located Pacific Islands. It signed a security pact with China in 2022, prompting concern from neighbours and the United States and a ramping up of Australia’s diplomacy in the region.
“The Solomon Islands is Australia’s friend, has always been and always will be,” Wale said at a press conference with his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese.
“We acknowledge that there have been problems in the last few years,” he said. “We have sought a reset.”
Wale said in 2022 the deal with China was against the interests of the Solomon Islands but has since visited Beijing and become less critical of China.
He said the security agreement had a non-disclosure clause and he had only seen a full copy of it for the first time in recent days after fighting for access.
“I’ve had to remove certain people from key positions,” he said. “We are going to be reviewing (it) as we are reviewing other security agreements we have with many other countries.”
China’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
COMPREHENSIVE TREATY
Albanese said Australia would provide a support package to help the Solomon Islands cope with high energy prices and the impact of Tropical Cyclone Maila earlier this year, as well as move forward on a policing partnership.
“Today we’ve committed to elevate our bilateral relationship at the request of the Solomon Islands,” he said. “This will be agreed in a new comprehensive treaty.”
Neither he nor Wale said what areas the treaty would or would not touch. Wale was accompanied in Canberra by a delegation including his ministers for foreign affairs, finance and policing.
In 2024, Australia provided more than $100 million for Solomon Islands’ police force, which Albanese said showed Canberra was its “security partner of choice”. Australia has a longstanding security agreement with the Solomon Islands.
Connor Graham, a researcher specialising in the Pacific at Australian think tank the Lowy Institute, said Wale was providing a “very clear signal”.
“He’s only been in power for a couple of weeks and we’re already here,” he said, adding that Australia would advance its position better by addressing Solomon Islands’ priorities such as health, education, climate resilience and economic diversification than by obsessing on security and China.
(Reporting by Peter Hobson; Additional reporting by Ryan Woo in Beijing; Editing by Kevin Buckland and Lincoln Feast.)
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