Solomon Islands PM urges ‘no more secrecy’ over treaties with other countries

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.

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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”.