CANBERRA: Australia on Tuesday asked China and the Solomon Islands to provide transparency of their intentions to Canberra and the region by immediately publishing details of a policing agreement inked in Beijing.
The police cooperation deal was among nine agreements inked after Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare held a meeting with his Chinese counterpart Li Qiang in Beijing on Monday.
China has expanded its police training in the Solomon Islands in recent months. The agreement will allow for the police presence of China until 2025, according to Al Jazeera.
Penny Wong, the Australian Foreign Minister’s spokesman, said that Australia was aware of reports of a policing implementation plan linked to an agreement inked between China and the Solomon Islands in March 2022.
He said in a statement that Australia was concerned that this development will cause further regional contest.
China’s biggest success
The Solomon Islands, nearly 2,000km northeast of Australia, has been Beijing’s biggest success in a push to expand its presence in the South Pacific.
Sogavare’s government switched official recognition in 2019 to China from Taiwan, the self-ruled democratic island claimed by the Chinses ruling Communist Party as integral part of its territory.
Wong said that China and the Solomon Islands should provide transparency of their intentions to Canberra and the region by publishing the deal immediately, so the Pacific countries can collectively consider the effects for their shared security.
In June, Sogavare demanded for a review of a 2017 security pact with Australia, which has historically given policing support to the Solomon Islands.
Australia is a big aid donor to the Solomon Islands and has a decades-long security relationship with the country.
