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Under separate agreements with Nauru, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, Australia must mitigate China’s influence in the region.
By Victoria Kim
Reporting from Sydney, Australia
A bank. A rugby team. A larger police force.
In the space of 12 days – and in time for Christmas – Australia unveiled a series of agreements with Pacific island nations to distribute what the countries could have included on the most sensible of their wish lists. The agreements appear to be the culmination of months of behind-the-scenes diplomatic efforts aimed at limiting China’s growing influence in a strategically important Pacific Ocean corridor.
On Friday, Australia announced the latest deal, a A$190 million ($118 million) deal for the Solomon Islands to increase its police force over four years.
The Solomon Islands are at the center of an intense festival between China, the United States and their allies. In 2022, the country of 700,000 people signed a secret security pact that appeared to give Beijing broad latitude to exert its influence and use the islands as a stopover for military operations.
Signed after a period of violent unrest that rocked the Solomon Islands in 2021, it allowed China to send armed police officers or military forces to assist in maintaining order. The deal raised alarms among officials in Canberra and Washington.
Since then, the Biden leadership has evidently launched a diplomatic offensive in the Pacific, opening embassies, promising investment and hosting leaders at a White House summit, while pushing Australia to exert its influence in the region.
But Chinese police education officials are already providing education in the Solomon Islands. The Australian deal announced on Friday does not appear to imply any commitment by the Solomon Islands to replace existing agreements with China or prevent them from entering into long-term deals.
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