The Solomon Islands has signed a policing deal with China and is to send a proposal for a broader security agreement covering the military to its Cabinet for consideration, a Solomon Islands official said yesterday.
The arrangements are likely to concern the US, which last month said that it would open an embassy in the Solomon Islands after senior US administration officials expressed concern that China wanted to create military relationships in the Pacific islands.
The Solomon Islands switched diplomatic ties from Taiwan to Beijing in 2019, which partly fuelled discontent that led to riots in the capital, Honiara, in November last