Solomon Islands Prime Minister Matthew Wale has arrived in Canberra for his first overseas trip since being elected by parliament in May, with his government’s contested security relationship with China expected to dominate talks with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Officials say an Australia-Solomon Islands agreement worth about $190 million (US$136 million) to expand and train the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force is likely to be signed during the visit, although other details of any new arrangements have not been released.
Wale, who made strengthening ties with Australia a central plank of his campaign, has been openly critical of his predecessors’ approach to Beijing. During the 2024 election he accused political opponents of “sleazing up” to China and promised, if returned to office, to publish the text of a 2022 security pact between the Solomon Islands and China. That pact — the only such formal security agreement any Pacific country has signed with China — remains unpublished and Wale has not yet released the documents he pledged.
The 2022 agreement, which analysts say partially superseded the bilateral security arrangement Australia maintained with the Solomons since 2017, has been a persistent source of regional unease. Canberra’s outreach to Pacific capitals has accelerated in recent years: Australia has concluded treaties with Tuvalu, Nauru and Papua New Guinea and is negotiating a security pact with Fiji. Wale’s early choice of Australia as his first international stop is being read as a signal about the direction he wants the Solomons to take.
Australian National University Pacific scholar Anouk Ride said Wale’s visit is significant regardless of concrete outcomes. “Maybe his early visit here is sending a signal of who he wants to engage with,” she said, adding that any substantive changes will become clearer only after formal documents are seen. For Canberra, a visible warming of relations with Honiara would bolster efforts to rebuild security and development links across the region in response to increasing Chinese engagement.
Albanese framed Wale’s trip as a mark of the importance of bilateral ties. Australian officials have described the expected $190 million package as focused on expanding and training the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force — a measure aimed at enhancing local capacity rather than establishing a sustained Australian presence — but have not published the full terms. Media and diplomatic sources say discussions will also cover a broader range of issues, from development assistance and infrastructure projects to regional security cooperation, though specifics remain under negotiation.
For the Solomon Islands government, the visit offers an opportunity to balance relationships. Wale has repeatedly signalled a desire for closer diplomatic and security ties with Australia while maintaining sovereignty and the benefit of multiple partners. How far Honiara moves to recalibrate its relationship with Beijing — including whether Wale will finally disclose the 2022 pact’s contents — will be watched closely across the Pacific and by Canberra in the days following the Canberra talks.