A delegation of more than 30 Solomon Islands police officers has travelled to China to undergo training for the first time, in a sign of deepening ties between the two countries, which signed a controversial security deal earlier this year.
The group of 34 officers, including a deputy and an assistant commissioner, will be in China for a month, during which time they will receive training, visit police stations and departments and learn from the expertise of Chinese police, according to a statement issued by Solomon Islands government.
The officers would also gain a “better understanding of Chinese police, diversified Chinese cultures and friendly Chinese people”, said Counsellor Yao Ming, the deputy head of mission at the Chinese embassy in Honiara, according to the statement.
He emphasised that this was the first visit to China by police officers from Solomon Islands for training purposes and added that after their return, the officers would contribute to “better cooperation between RSIPF [Royal Solomon Islands Police Force] and Chinese police, and enhance the friendship between China and Solomon Islands”, according to the statement.
Australia has provided training to Solomon Islands police and been involved in assisting with security on the islands for decades. Last year, when riots rocked the capital of Honiara, prime minister Manasseh Sogavare requested the Australian government send defence personnel to help restore order.
China has also been involved in police training and providing equipment to the RSIPF, but the government statement said that this would be the biggest RSIPF delegation to visit a foreign country for police training.
Increased cooperation in policing is believed to be a key part of the security deal signed by the two countries earlier this year. The text of the deal has not been made public, but a draft was leaked online in March.
The leaked draft outlined the broad conditions under which Solomon Islands could call on China to send in armed police and military personnel. The conditions included “to assist in maintaining social order, protecting people’s lives and property, providing humanitarian assistance, carrying out disaster response, or providing assistance on other tasks agreed upon by the parties [to the agreement]”.
In April, Australia’s spy chief said Canberra was concerned Chinese police sent to Solomon Islands could deploy “ruthless” techniques previously used to quell anti-government protests in Hong Kong.
“In such a fragile, volatile country Chinese policing techniques and tactics that we’ve seen deployed so ruthlessly in Hong Kong, for example, are completely inconsistent with the Pacific way of resolving issues and could incite further instability and violence in the Solomon Islands,” said Andrew Shearer, the director general of Australia’s Office of National Intelligence.
Opposition figures in Solomon Islands have previously raised grave concerns about the deepening of relationships between the police forces, saying they feared it could allow the prime minister to use Chinese armed police to quash democratic dissent and hold on to power.
