Canberra, June 4 (IANS) Solomon Islands Prime Minister Matthew Wale has announced that he would review a security agreement signed with China. Addressing a joint press conference with his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese in Canberra, Wale said he had to remove “certain people from key positions” to gain access to the document and got a copy of it just a day before leaving for Australia. Wale’s visit to Australia is his first overseas visit since assuming office in May.
When asked whether he has reviewed the security pact signed between Solomon Islands and China, Matthew Wale responded, “I have had to remove certain people from key positions. I haven’t been afforded a copy even of that agreement until a day before I left. So, I haven’t had a good look at it. I’ve had a look at it, I’ll be honest with you, but I haven’t had a good look at it.”
“I’ve been praying and fasting about it, but of course, you know, Cabinet will need to have a look at these things. There is a non disclosure clause in it, so I couldn’t show it to you right away, but we are going to be reviewing as we are reviewing other security agreements that we have with many other countries,” he added.
In 2022, then-Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare signed a security pact with China, triggering concerns in Australia.
During the press conference, Matthew Wale called Solomon Islands’ “friend” and acknowledged that the bilateral ties have faced some issues in the past few years.
“Solomon Islands is Australia’s friend, has always been and always will be. Of course there are, I’m sure you’ll be popping questions about the last few years and we have had some issues and all relationships go through issues, bumps here and there. But the resilience of our relationship I think is self evident. It lies in our people, to people contacts and of course in our institutional relations over so many years, perhaps even more than a century. And it is not easy to break that kind of the depth and the strength of such a relationship.”
Albanese announced that Australia and Solomon Islands remain committed to elevate bilateral ties. He expressed Australia’s commitment to listening, engaging, with respect and supporting the priorities of the Solomon Islands Government.
“We’ve committed to elevate our bilateral relationship, at the request of the Solomon Islands. This will be agreed in a new comprehensive treaty underpinned by mutual trust, respect and open dialogue. This treaty will allow Australia and the Solomon Islands to confront global and regional challenges as partners. This is a significant body of work and we’ve asked our Foreign Ministers to lead and drive this forward,” the Australian PM said.
“We’ve also agreed to move to the next phase of the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force, Australian Federal Police Policing Partnership Program, building capability and strengthening policing cooperation. This builds on the Pacific Policing Initiative that we launched at the Pacific Islands Forum just a couple of years ago. And we welcome the Solomon Islands signature of this agreement of understanding, reinforcing our shared commitment to regional security,” he added.
–IANS
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