Australia's spy chief says Canberra is concerned Chinese police deployed to the Solomon Islands under a new security pact could use "ruthless" techniques previously used to quell anti-government protests in Hong Kong.
Andrew Shearer, the director-general of the Office of National Intelligence, travelled to the Pacific islands nation last month in a failed attempt to persuade Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare not to sign a security pact with China that has alarmed the United States and its allies.
