Australia yesterday urged the Solomon Islands to rely on fellow Pacific nations for security assistance during a visit by China-friendly Solomon Islands Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele.
Manele was visiting Australia as part of a three-nation tour that also takes him to China and Japan.
It is Manele’s first official international trip since he replaced enthusiastic Beijing supporter Manasseh Sogavare as prime minister last month.
Photo: Bloomberg
Sogavare switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing and in 2022 signed a security pact with Beijing that raised Western concerns about China’s growing sway in the South Pacific.
“Australia and Pacific nations are well placed to meet the security needs of our region,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told a joint news conference with Manele after their talks in Canberra.
“We regard security as the job of our Pacific family,” he added.
Manele said the pair held “very frank discussions,” including on police training and security.
The Solomon Islands is focused on its domestic security needs, he said.
“We are trying to address internal security challenges,” Manele told reporters.
“Of course, we do acknowledge that our security partners, China and Australia, they have security strategic interests as well,” he said. “In our case, we see security through a development lens.”
China has been offering training and hardware to the Solomons police.
In a joint statement, Albanese and Manele said Australia was the Solomon Isalands’ “security partner of choice.”
The Pacific island nation asked Australia to help it to double the size of its police force to 3,000 over a decade, with a longer-term goal of reaching 5,000. The two sides agreed to work together on “next steps.”
“Australia’s continued support to the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force will build Solomon Islands’ ability to meet its own security needs, and reduce its reliance on external partners,” their statement said.
Manele said that his visits to Australia and China are also focused on creating jobs in the developing South Pacific island nation.
“We are keen to work with all partners, with Australia and China, [on] how we can partner together to create transformational projects and programs in Solomon Islands that create jobs,” Manele said.
Additional reporting by AP
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