Australia Pledges to Funnel More Funds to Arm Solomon Islands

Last week, Australia delivered 13 vehicles and 60 MK-18 semi-automatic rifles to the Royal Solomon Islands police force to bring a significant increase in the capability. The Pacific nation saw years of violence due to the rampant availability of guns across the islands between 1998 and 2003.

Australia Federal Police (AFP) on Tuesday apprised the country’s Senate Estimates that it would provide additional funding to support the Solomon Islands Police Force in enhancing its capabilities, days after China donated $40 million worth of equipment.

AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw said that RSIPF will get a multi-purpose use-of-force training center for public order management training and a mobile protection unit with the new funding.

The commissioner also vowed to further accelerate stage two “rearmament" to the Solomon Islands. The semi-automatic rifles handed over last week to RSIPF were all part of the "stage 2 rearmament" process.

In the annual budget, the Anthony Albanese government pledged $45.7 million over two years from 2022-23 to support AFP deployment in Honiara through Solomon’s International Assistance Force.

Besides providing a month of training to the RSIPF personnel in Beijing, China donated vehicles and other police gear last week, two days after Australia delivered 13 vehicles and 60 MK-18 semi-automatic rifles to police guarding the country's population of less than a million.

The US and its Pacific allies have raised their diplomatic and military presence in the Pacific in response to China’s growing acceptance in the South Pacific region.

China signed a security pact with the Solomon Islands in April and is negotiating sealing an umbrella pact with around a dozen Pacific island nations.

China increased support to the Solomon Islands at the invitation of the Manasseh Sogavare government, which faced an unprecedented riot in 2019 riots, causing $67 million worth of damage and leaving Honiara’s Chinatown district in ruins.

The rioters targeted the Chinese community, reportedly due to the Sogavare’s decision to switch the nation's diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to China in 2019.