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Maria Siow

A US vow to fund a port in the Solomon Islands could offer clues to Washington’s intentions in a region that has reeled from American aid cuts, yet remains part of the tug of war between superpowers.
Analysts say the latest bid reflects a desire to ensure Honiara partners with Western allies in sectors with security implications, while renewing the once “anaemic” relationship with the region as Chinese influence grows.
According to observers, the current security tilt of the Pacific island states is towards Australia, followed by the United States, then China.
Solomon Islands’ Prime Minister Matthew Wale said last Monday after returning from talks in Washington that America was in advanced talks to finance a port in his country.
US officials gave a “firm commitment, subject to details” to finance a wharf, power, fuel storage and roads at Bina Harbour, Wale said.
“Bina is a critical one,” he added, referring to the major project aimed at building a world-class tuna processing plant, creating thousands of jobs, and establishing a climate-resilient international port in Malaita province.
During Wale’s visit to the US last month, he signed a letter of intent with the State Department to bring the Peace Corps back to the Solomon Islands after more than 25 years.
The visit also paved the way for US$6 million in fresh American funding to expand unexploded ordnance removal programmes, and a shiprider agreement allowing Solomon Islands law enforcement officers to board designated US vessels and conduct joint maritime patrols and surveillance operations in local waters.

Kathryn Paik, deputy director and senior fellow with the Australia Chair at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said the potential port funding indicated the US wanted to ensure Honiara looked to partners such as itself or Australia, especially in sectors with security implications.
She said Wale’s US visit marked a desire to rebalance the Solomons’ foreign policy to work more closely with traditional partners, as several signed initiatives had stalled for years under previous Beijing-friendly administrations.
“By signing these agreements, Wale made clear his intent to renew the anaemic US-Solomon relationship. For its part, the US government has clearly welcomed this shift,” Paik said.
The Solomon Islands established diplomatic ties with China in 2019.
In 2022, Beijing signed a security agreement with the Solomon Islands, raising concerns in the US and its allies such as Australia and New Zealand that the move allowed China to establish a military presence and deploy armed forces in the South Pacific.
Wale’s predecessors Manasseh Sogavare and Jeremiah Manele had significantly deepened diplomatic, economic and security ties with Beijing.
Richard Herr, an adjunct senior lecturer at the University of Tasmania’s Law Faculty, said if the US followed through with the wharf project, the move would affect China’s attempts to do likewise.
In recent years, Beijing has expressed a keen interest in financing the deep-water port development, with Chinese construction firms lobbying past Solomon Islands administrations and discussing a state-linked loan framework.
“Almost any aspect of aid and infrastructure development or trade in the Pacific Islands is currently being viewed through the lens of perceived strategic rivalry in the region with China,” he said.


But the US has “real ground to make up”. Its recent rapprochement was an attempt to reverse the “disastrous” funding cuts that affected the region badly last year, Herr said.
Sweeping cuts and the dismantling of the US Agency for International Development driven by the Donald Trump administration resulted in the cancellation of roughly 83 per cent of the agency’s global programmes.
In the Pacific islands, these actions abruptly halted vital health, climate and disaster preparedness initiatives.
‘Maximum strategic space’
Sarang Shidore, director of the Global South Programme at the Quincy Institute, said that ideally, Pacific states would like to multi-align between the US, Australia and China to achieve “maximum strategic space” and secure their interests.
“In general though, the security tilt of the Pacific Island states is more towards Australia, followed by the US, with China a distant third,” Shidore said.
Canberra is seen to lead due to its recent security pacts with Pacific Island states, including two mutual defence agreements with Papua New Guinea and Fiji in October and July respectively that commit parties to come to each other’s aid during a security threat or armed attack.
Another treaty with Tuvalu contains a veto clause requiring one of the world’s smallest countries to consult Australia on any security- or defence-related deals with other countries.
However, Vanuatu resisted an Australian attempt to include a formal veto power on sensitive infrastructure projects with third countries in their agreement in June.

Washington’s involvement in Pacific island states centres on defence, economic aid and countering geopolitical competition, but these areas have suffered from cyclic neglect due to competing global crises and a heavy reliance on a military-first approach.
Mainland China’s involvement spans major infrastructure funding, police and security cooperation, and resource extraction.
Herr said courting both sides in a perceived contest between China and the region’s traditional friends was not risk-free.
“This strategy is sometimes promoted as if it were and therefore the Islands would be foolish not to take advantage of the potential gains,” he said.
“The game has changed in the last half generation because China is a significant player and there have been consequences” such as alleged political influence and Chinese construction firms entering the market on the initial premise of aid but later edging out local firms and entrepreneurs, he added.


US port pledge ups China rivalry in Pacific but island nations stick to own course

Australia nears treaty with Solomon Islands in bid to limit China’s influence

France digs in on Pacific islands claim as Vanuatu turns to UN’s top court

New Zealand ‘must never be seen as a proxy’, former PM Helen Clark warns

Pacific nations

Solomon port plans mark US reset of ‘anaemic’ Pacific ties

The port in Honiara, capital city of Solomon Islands in April 2024. Photo: AFP

Solomon Islands Prime Minister Matthew Wale says the US is in advanced talks to finance a port in his country. Photo: EPA

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (leftL) with his Fijian counterpart Sitiveni Rabuka at the Australian High Commission residence in Suva on July 6. Photo: AFP

New Zealand seals trio of Pacific defence pacts to counter China’s reach

Fiji’s Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka (left) meets with New Zealand’s Prime Minister Christopher Luxon on the sidelines of the Pacific Islands Forum summit in Honiara, the capital of the Solomon Islands, in 2025. Photo: AFP

Chris Penk, New Zealand’s minister of defence, signed an agreement with Papua New Guinea to expand joint maritime surveillance, military exercises and personnel exchanges on July 22. Photo: Reuters

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi meets with his Cook Islands counterpart in May. Beijing has become a key trade and investment partner for almost every Pacific nation in recent years. Photo: Xinhua

Solomon Islands residents live in fear of WWII bomb explosions

Billy, a resident of the village of Yandina in Russell Islands, Solomon Islands, sits next to unexploded munitions near his home. Photo: UNDP Pacific Office/Christopher Teasdale

A woman stands next to a poster warning residents to be careful of unexploded munitions in the Solomon Islands. Photo: UNDP Pacific Office/Christopher Teasdale

Billy collects shells in the mangrove swamps near his home in the village of Yandina, Russell Islands, Solomon Islands. Photo: UNDP Pacific Office/Christopher Teasdale

A UN team has released a report on wartime munitions posing contamination risks in two provinces of the Solomon Islands. Photo: UNDP Pacific Office/Christopher Teasdale

Australia, Fiji sign mutual defence pact to boost Pacific security

Prime ministers of Australia, Anthony Albanese (left), and Fiji, Sitiveni Rabuka, shake hands after signing a treaty in Suva on Monday. Photo: EPA

Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese drinks kava next to Fiji’s Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka during a welcome ceremony in Suva on Monday. Photo: AAP/Reuters

Members of the Australian and Fijian delegation meet at the Grand Pacific Hotel in Suva on Monday. Photo: AFP

Solomon Islands’ defence force dream: an Australia-China flashpoint?

Royal Solomon Islands Police Force officers train with a Chinese police liaison team in 2022. Photo: RSIPF/AFP

Solomon Islands Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele meets Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing last year. Photo: Xinhua

A heavily armed member of the Australian-led Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands stands guard outside a court in Honiara in 2006. Photo: AFP

Royal Solomon Islands Police Force officers take part in drills led by a Chinese police liason team in 2022. Photo: RSIPF/AFP

Smoke billows from buring houses during rioting in Honiara in 2006. Photo: Australian Federal Police/AFP 

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The move aims to ensure Honiara partners with Western allies in sectors with security implications, analysts say


The move aims to ensure Honiara partners with Western allies in sectors with security implications, analysts say.


Solomon port plans mark US reset of ‘anaemic’ Pacific ties

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The move aims to ensure Honiara partners with Western allies in sectors with security implications, analysts say

The move aims to ensure Honiara partners with Western allies in sectors with security implications, analysts say