Frank Williams, Honiara
HONIARA — Solomon Islands Prime Minister Matthew Wale has announced that a formal review of the country’s 2022 security agreement with China is now underway, stressing the need for greater parliamentary oversight of international treaties.
Wale revealed that he was only allowed to examine the full text of the agreement one day before an official meeting in Canberra in May, shortly after taking office. As opposition leader at the time the deal was signed, he had been denied proper access, a situation he told parliament must never be repeated.
He called on Opposition Leader Manasseh Sogavare — who was prime minister when the China pact was concluded — to back the review. The move follows Sogavare’s criticism of limited transparency surrounding a new agreement Wale’s government has signed with the United States that expands access for the US Coast Guard in Solomon Islands waters.
Responding to those claims, Wale pledged an end to secrecy around binding national agreements. “I call on the Leader of the Opposition to support the review. This House must support the principle that no treaty should stand without the informed consent of Parliament,” he said. “If that is the standard, then it must apply to every agreement this country has signed and not just some.”
The review forms part of a broader foreign policy reset under Wale that observers say is shifting Solomon Islands closer to Western partners. The country switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in 2019 under Sogavare’s earlier leadership, severing longstanding ties with Taipei. Despite the current recalibration, Wale emphasised that China remains an important partner and reaffirmed Solomon Islands’ traditional stance of being “friends to all and enemies to none.”
