Solomon Islands Prime Minister
Matthew Wale has announced that a review of his country’s
security agreement with China has begun.
Wale has said
he was only permitted to read the 2022 agreement one day
before an official meeting in Canberra in May this year,
shortly after he was elected prime
minister.
Highlighting the lack of proper disclosure
at the time of the agreement, when he was opposition leader,
Wale told parliament this must never happen again.
As
such, he has called on the current opposition leader
Manasseh Sogavare, who was prime minister at the time of the
China agreement, to support the review.
This comes
after Sogavare
alleged a lack of transparency over a new agreement that
Wale’s government has signed with the United States which
allows the US Coast Guard to have greater access to the
Solomons.
In response, Wale said there would be ‘no
more secrecy’ on agreements that bind the nation
“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.
“If
that is the standard, then it must apply to every agreement
this country has signed and not just some,” Wale
said.
Wale, who has overseen a foreign policy reset
that observers note has the Solomon Islands pivoting back to
the west, also stressed that China remains an important
partner for his country.
He said Solomon Islands
remained “friends to all and enemies to
none”.
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