MELBOURNE: Australia announced on Friday it will pay for more police in Solomon Islands and create a police training center in the South Pacific island nation’s capital Honiara, where Chinese law enforcement instructors are already based under a bilateral security pact with Beijing.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Australia would spend $118 million (190 million Australian dollars) over four years on funding and training new Royal Solomon Islands Police Force recruits with a package that would “reduce any need for outside support.”
“My government is proud to make a significant investment in the police force of the Solomon Islands to ensure that they can continue to take primary responsibility for security in the Solomons,” Albanese told reporters in Australia’s capital Canberra.
Albanese and his Solomons counterpart Jeremiah Manele said in a joint statement on Friday the package would build an enduring security capability in the Solomons, “thereby reducing its reliance on external partners over time.”
Australia has been energetically pursuing new bilateral security deals with its Pacific island neighbors since Beijing and the Solomons signed a security deal in 2022 under Manele’s predecessor, Manasseh Sogavare.
That deal has created fears among US allies including Australia that the Chinese navy will be allowed to build a base in the strategically important Solomons.
Albanese’s Labour Party, which was the opposition at the time the pact was signed, described it as Australia’s worst foreign policy failure in the Pacific since World War II.
Australia has recently signed security deals with Papua New Guinea, Tuvalu and Nauru that effectively give Canberra veto powers over any security deals those countries might want to strike with third nations including China.
Asked if the new deal would require the Chinese security presence to be removed from the Solomons, Albanese did not directly answer.
“The Solomon Islands of course is a sovereign nation. They have some measures in place and we expect that to continue,” Albanese said.
“As a result of this agreement, what we’ve done is make sure that Australia remains the security partner of choice,” he added.
Mihai Sora, a Pacific islands expert at the Lowy Institute, a Sydney-based international policy think tank, said the agreement was a “clear win for Solomon Islands, which has gained a much-needed boost to its law and justice sector.”
“But Solomon Islands has not committed to scaling back the essentially permanent rotating presence of around 14 Chinese police trainers in the country, who have been running their own parallel training program with Solomon Islands police since 2022,” Sora said in an email.
“So, the agreement falls short of a solid strategic commitment to Australia from Solomon Islands, and there’s no indication that it would derail China-Solomon Islands security ties,” Sora added.
Blake Johnson, an analyst at the Australian Security Policy Institute, a Canberra-based think tank, said Chinese policing in the Pacific gives Beijing tools to control Chinese expatriates and pursue other goals.
“They can be very heavy-handed in their response sometimes. There are also concerns around data and privacy risks associated with Chinese police in the region,” Johnson said.
“Sometimes they’re providing surveillance equipment. There are concerns about what that is being used for and what it’s capturing,” he added.

TORONTO: Embattled Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will shuffle his Cabinet Friday.
The prime minister’s office confirmed late Thursday that Trudeau will participate in the swearing-in ceremony and chair a meeting with his new Cabinet later Friday.
Trudeau is facing rising discontent over his leadership, and the abrupt departure of his finance minister on Monday could be something he can’t recover from.
A rising number of Liberal lawmakers are calling on Trudeau to resign but new Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc said Thursday Trudeau has the “full support of his Cabinet.”
LeBlanc said he respects the views of Liberal lawmakers who want Trudeau to resign.
“That’s a view they are expressing. The prime minister listened carefully when that view was expressed to him,” LeBlanc said. “He listened, in some cases responded to specific things that were raised, and he said he would reflect carefully.”
LeBlanc said the government will remain focused on work and addressing the threat by President-elect Donald Trump to impose a 25 percent tariff on all Canadian products when he is inaugurated next month.
“We shouldn’t be looking inward. We shouldn’t be worrying about ourselves,” LeBlanc said.
LeBlanc said he will meet with Tom Homan, Trump’s incoming “border czar,” after Christmas to discuss Canada’s plan to secure the border as part of a bid to avoid the tariffs.
Trudeau has led the country for nearly a decade, but has become widely unpopular in recent years over a wide range of issues, including the high cost of living and rising inflation.
There is no mechanism for Trudeau’s party to force him out in the short term. He could resign, or his Liberal party could be forced from power by a “no confidence” vote in Parliament that would trigger an election that would very likely favor the opposing Conservative Party.
As rising numbers of Liberal lawmakers called for Trudeau to resign this week, Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said, “We all need to give him a little time to reflect.”
Concerns about Trudeau’s leadership were exacerbated Monday when Chrystia Freeland, Trudeau’s finance minister and deputy prime minister, resigned from the Cabinet. Freeland was highly critical of Trudeau’s handling of the economy in the face of steep tariffs threatened by Trump. Shortly before Freeland announced her decision, the housing minister also quit.
Because Trudeau’s Liberals don’t hold an outright majority in the Parliament, they have for years depended on the support of the leftist New Democratic Party to pass legislation and stay in power. But that support has all but vanished — the NDP’s leader has called on Trudeau to resign — and that might clear the way for Parliament to vote “no confidence.”
NDP leader Jagmeet Singh, however, would not commit to bringing down the government at the first opportunity in part because Trump could impose crippling tariffs and Parliament might need to respond with tariffs in retaliation.
Parliament is now shut for the holidays until late next month, and a “no confidence” vote could be scheduled sometime thereafter.
“It appears Trudeau will be stepping down, but no one knows exactly when,” said Nelson Wiseman, professor emeritus at the University of Toronto. “The need to fill vacant posts and to relieve some ministers of carrying multiple portfolios is the drive behind the shuffle but it will not boost the Liberal party’s polling numbers; it’s too late in the day for that to happen.”
LeBlanc also said Mark Carney won’t be joining Cabinet. Trudeau has been trying to recruit Carney, the former head of the Bank of England and Bank of Canada, to join his government. Carney has long been interested in entering politics and becoming the leader of the Liberal Party.
“Mr. Carney isn’t about to become Canada’s finance minister in the short term,” LeBlanc said. “The prime minister asked me to start that work and to get ready for a budget in the spring.”