In October 2024, Suidani and Talifilu were arrested by Solomon Islands police under unusual circumstances. On December 19th, Australia announced it was giving Solomons AUS$190 million ‘to grow the size and capability of the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force (RSIPF), in response to a request by Solomon Islands’.
Washington, DC: In August, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was caught on camera talking to Kurt Campbell about Canberra’s newly announced Pacific Policing Initiative. Canberra had long wanted to reshape Pacific Islands architecture so that, in the words of Australia’s 2017 Foreign Policy White Paper, it would “integrate Pacific countries into the Australian and New Zealand economies and our security institutions”.
SECURITY ‘INTEGRATION’
What does that look like? In December, Australia signed a treaty with Nauru in which it included these two clauses:
“Nauru shall mutually agree with Australia any partnership, arrangement or engagement with any other State or entity on matters relating to Nauru’s security including maritime security, defence, policing, border protection and cyber security sectors, and Nauru’s critical infrastructure concerning banking and telecommunications.
“Nauru shall consult with Australia on any partnership, arrangement or engagement with any other State or entity relating to Nauru’s other critical infrastructure such as ports, aviation, and energy infrastructure.”
Just as a reminder, Nauru is (or was) an independent country.
Some have equated this agreement to the Compacts of Free Association the United States has with three independent Pacific Islands countries. Not even close.
One major difference is the citizens of those countries voted on whether or not to accept the Compacts. In the Australia-Nauru case, it was a government-to-government deal, negotiated in secret. The public was not consulted. China is grateful for the precedent.
(It’s worth noting when Australia did the same thing with Tuvalu, the Tuvaluan Prime Minister who signed the deal was turfed out at the next election.)
POLICING
In that chat accidentally caught on camera, Kurt Campbell gave an indication of how much Australia wants to “own” policing in the Pacific. Campbell says the U.S. had been thinking about assisting the Pacific Islands with policing, but “Kevin” [Rudd, Australia’s Ambassador to the U.S.] “asked us not to, so we did not.”
Australia has since launched the AUS$400 million Policing Initiative, along with related projects. But what is it delivering to people in the Pacific?
POLICE STATE
Daniel Suidani and Celsus Talifilu, two leaders in Solomon Islands, have been working for years to try to improve the lives of their people. One aspect of that was, when the national Solomon Islands government switched from Taiwan to China in 2019 (without consulting the population), Suidani and Talifilu raised serious concerns about what that would mean for Solomon Islanders.
Suidani was Premier of Malaita province at the time. Via its ground-breaking Auki Communique, Suidani’s provincial government declared a moratorium on Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-linked businesses operating in Malaita. Having seen the way the CCP operated elsewhere, one of the concerns was: “the need to be free from unwarranted interference of persons and therefore [we] reject any notion of a police state”.
Fast forward five years and, in October 2024, Suidani and Talifilu were arrested by Solomon Islands police under unusual circumstances, on dubious unlawful assembly charges related to events from three years earlier. It looks an awful lot like lawfare used against the political opposition and carried out by a compliant police force.
What does this have to do with Australia? On December 19th (so after their arrest), Australia announced it was giving Solomons AUS$190 million “to grow the size and capability of the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force (RSIPF), in response to a request by Solomon Islands”.
The Prime Minister of Solomons said in June he wanted to double the size of his police force. There are already Chinese police trainers in Solomon, and Albanese has overtly tied his support to wanting to outcompete the PRC, saying Australia expects: “as a result of this agreement, what we have done is make sure that Australia remains a security partner of choice.”
This raises the question of “security” for whom? And what is a police force for? If it is to investigate and charge potential criminals, where are the parallel funds for defence attorneys, mediators, prisons, rehabilitation, etc.? Or are these actually not police, but state security?
The Sunday Guardian asked Celsus Talifilu what he thought of the effectiveness of the support given to the RSIPF.
“I felt the current arrangements with Australia, and others, is a lot of emphasis on security. But police are still not attending queries. In terms of urban areas, where there are issues to do with noise, traffic, stealing, the police are still not attending to the community.”
On the topic of foreign police officers operating in Solomons, Talifilu said: “How many foreign police are in Solomons? There are some from China, Australia, New Zealand. What are they doing here? Who are they securing? Are they providing security for what purposes?”
Overall, there is a serious question if this is making the people of Solomons more secure. Talifilu said: “They are ensuring the police presence is visible, and then what? It’s not easy to determine and some cases seem politically motivated. During the last motion of no confidence against the government (that was withdrawn) police were much more active. It looks provocative, showing to people ‘here we are’—protecting a government that the people might not be in favor of.
“That feeling some people have is they are going on with old corrupt ways and not helping. The government is having more police to protect themselves, not the citizens. The more police, the more apparatus they are given, the more supressing of the people, the more fearful the people are of speaking. Why do the police have vehicles that are threatening? They look more like the army. Now it’s not easy for the people to come out and criticize the government, people are afraid to be honest.”
What focus would he like to see instead?
“Australia has been developing new funding streams for communities which is good. Though it’s mostly social—livelihood-related support would be much more beneficial in the long run. We need to help finding employment.”
The Australian argument is that if they don’t provide policing the Chinese will—so Canberra is vying with Beijing for who gets to turn Solomons into a police state.
Instead, Australia could do actual policing, and help weaken the grasp of the PRC on the people of Solomon Islands.
There are myriad examples of threads that could be pulled to see what would unravel. For example, a recent story in the excellent In-depth Solomons reported, that two months before the elections in Solomons this year, the son of then Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare (current Finance Minister) was one of three people who set up an offshore shell company in Singapore. That son is a student in China and has lived there since 2019. The second person is a Chinese national.
The third person is Jimson Fiau Tanangada, Solomon Islands Minister of Police, National Security and Correctional Services. In-depth Solomons reports he has visited China at least four times since 2023, including twice as Minister of Police.
AUSTRALIA HAD AT LEAST TWO CHOICES.
Help the people of Solomons achieve true security—to include long term economic development—by doing real policing itself. That means investigating corruption with international partners as well look into PRC-linked money laundered through Australian banks and real estate.
Or give a guy who set up a shell company with a Chinese partner and goes on regular trips to the PRC more armed, trained “police” under his control.
Someone in Australian intelligence probably thinks having “dirt” on a corrupt official gives Canberra leverage. Guaranteed if you are dealing with that sort of official, they are way more scared of the Chinese than they are of you, so all you are doing is protecting a PRC asset.
Also, the longer the corrupt are in place, the harder it gets for honest people. Solomons has some of the most courageous leaders and journalists there are. They don’t need more police thrown at them, they need more justice.
Talifilu and Suidani’s case heads to court January 16th. Talifilu is hopeful: “I personally feel that the judiciary is the last vestige that is working properly, though some may not be of the same view”. Time will tell. So far no one from the Australian High Commission has spoken to him.
DISINTEGRATION
The top down policies designed to “integrate” the Pacific Islands into Australia not only carry the whiff of colonialism, they can function to speed along the disintegration of societies—feeding into China’s entropic warfare and cause real harm on the ground.
When Campbell told Albanese the U.S. was “giving” policing to Australia, he said “we’ve given you the lane, so take the lane!” If things keep going the way they are, that lane will head off the edge of a cliff before too long.
* Cleo Paskal is Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defence of Democracies and columnist with The Sunday Guardian.