Solomon Islands: China to Help With Policing and Security

Facts

• Solomon Islands PM Manasseh Sogavare's office on Friday said that the Chinese police would add to the existing Australian and New Zealand support for its 1.5K officers, cooperating to enhance their capabilities in cyber security and community policing.¹
• The statement further demanded that critics respect the country's sovereignty, stressing that it fails to understand how improving the traffic control and management system in Honiara and completing the Forensic Autopsy Lab and police equipment can undermine peace and stability in the Pacific.²
• This comes after the US, Australia, and New Zealand expressed concerns about a deal struck this week that allows Beijing to extend its police presence in the country until 2025, calling for the release of more details of this plan.³
• The Solomon Islands is no stranger to hosting foreign police deployments as Australia and New Zealand, which previously led a decade-long international peacekeeping force in the country, stationed police in the nation upon Sogavare's request in 2021 after anti-government unrest.⁴
• However, opposition leader Matthew Wale warned about differences between 'democracies' and 'communist countries' in policing while expressing concern about the nation getting caught in the middle of a US-China clash for regional influence.⁵
• The 700K-strong Solomon Islands is an archipelago located across a strategic position in the Pacific Islands, which was pivotal during World War II's Philippines campaign.⁶

Sources: ¹CNBC, ²Guardian, ³The Straits Times, ⁴Al Jazeera, ⁵Reuters and ⁶Nikkei Asia.

Narratives

• Anti-China narrative, as provided by VOA. Despite the US opening an embassy in the country and pledging $810M to fight climate change and maritime security, the Solomon Islands under Sogavare's government has decided to distance itself from longstanding Western allies and pursue relations with China. If Sogavare wants his country to remain sovereign, it would be wiser for him to consider what China will use these security pacts for with respect to its expansionist goals in the region.
• Pro-China narrative, as provided by Global Times. The Western powers are throwing a tantrum not because China is nefariously using diplomacy as a means to achieve military expansion but rather because it has conducted mutually beneficial deals with the Solomon Islands. The West does have a history of relations with the nation, but that history is of colonization and exploitation. Beijing, on the contrary, is looking to boost the islands' and its own security and economic prospects for the betterment of the whole region.