MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) 鈥� The Solomon Islands will review with China, the South Pacific nation鈥檚 new Prime Minister Matthew Wale said Wednesday.
The pact struck in 2022 with the Solomons鈥� then-Prime Minister created fears in the United States and among allies including Australia that it would allow the Chinese navy to build a base in the South Pacific.
Before Wale became prime minister in a parliamentary vote May 15, he had called for the detail of the treaty to be made public.
Wale said Wednesday he had only been provided with a copy a few days ago and after he had 鈥渞emoved certain people from key positions.鈥� He didn鈥檛 identify those people.
鈥淚 haven鈥檛 had a good look at it. I鈥檝e had a look at it,鈥� Wale told reporters in the Australian capital Canberra.
鈥淚鈥檝e been praying and fasting about it. 鈥� There is a nondisclosure clause in it, so I couldn鈥檛 show it to you right away. But we are going to be reviewing (the treaty), as we are reviewing other security agreements that we have with many other countries,鈥� he added.
Wale was visiting Australia in his first overseas trip since he became leader of his nation of 700,000 people, 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) northeast of Australia.
Wale and his Australian counterpart announced their governments would negotiate a comprehensive strategic treaty that would elevate the bilateral relationship and cover security and economic issues.
Wale鈥檚 predecessor, , had resisted Australia鈥檚 efforts to forge closer ties, but Wale said the two governments had decided to 鈥渞eset鈥� the bilateral relationship.
鈥淲e acknowledge that there鈥檚 been some problems in the past few years,鈥� Wale said.
Albanese said Australia should be the Solomons鈥� primary security partner, rather than China.
鈥淲e have said very clearly we want Australia to be the security partner of choice in our region and we want the Pacific family to look after our security in this region,鈥� Albanese said.
Wale said the regional looking after its own security was “the direction we want to take.鈥�
China has provided police instructors to the Solomons as part of . The Solomons doesn鈥檛 have a military, so police there have a larger security role than in countries with defense forces.
The Solomons provided China with a diplomatic coup in 2019 when Sogavare鈥檚 government switched official recognition to Beijing from Taiwan, the self-governed island democracy China claims as part of its territory.
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