A press statement from the Solomon Islands said that a “ship rider agreement” to improve cooperative maritime enforcement and surveillance will be signed in the capital, Honiara, next week. “Prime Minister Wale highlighted the urgent need to enhance security across the Pacific region, noting the increasing threats of drug trafficking, human trafficking, and illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing,” read the statement.
Typically, bilateral ship‑rider agreements allow law enforcement officers from Pacific island states to embark on Coast Guard vessels and authorize boardings and inspections within the host nation’s waters. In recent years, the US Coast Guard has expanded patrols across the South Pacific and routinely embarks local law enforcement “ship riders” to help inspect vessels suspected of illegal fishing across millions of square kilometers.
Earlier, for instance, ship riders on a US Coast Guard vessel boarded Chinese fishing boats in Vanuatu and Kiribati in 2024, sparking strong protests from Beijing.
Solomon Islands boasts an expansive 1.5 million-square-kilometer exclusive economic zone, and tuna fishing is a significant sector of the island state’s economy.
The US seeks ship-riding agreements with Pacific Island Countries (PICs) to help enforce fisheries laws across vast exclusive economic zones (EEZs) and to build influence so that it could credibly counterbalance China’s heft in the region.
More importantly, these agreements give the US a regular operating presence across the South Pacific, where China has been forging new partnerships.
In April 2022, the Solomon Islands and China signed a security framework agreement that allows Chinese naval vessels to dock, receive logistical replenishment, and, at Honiara’s request, deploy Chinese police and armed forces to maintain social order. The agreement caused alarm that a People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) base could be established in the region, and that Chinese warships and submarines would berth in proximity to Australia.
At the time, the former Solomon Islands’ Prime Minister, Manasseh Sogavare, assuaged these concerns by “guaranteeing” that there would never be a Chinese military base in his country. However, that same year, the Solomon Islands denied a US Coast Guard vessel a port call amid a temporary moratorium on foreign military ships.
The agreement paved the way for expanding the Chinese presence in the country, including police training provided by the Chinese police across the island state under the watch of Sogavare’s successor, Jeremiah Manele. In fact, China has been injecting capital, boosting its security presence, and providing assistance with solar lighting, sewing machines, soccer balls, and even noodle-making lessons to bolster economic ties with the Solomon Islands.
While Australia and the US increased their own engagement and cooperation with the Solomon Islands, a breakthrough came when Matthew Wale became the Prime Minister in May 2026.
Last month, Wale said that the Solomon Islands would review its secretive security treaty with China. “I haven’t had a good look at it. I’ve had a look at it,” Wale told reporters in the Australian capital Canberra on his first overseas visit as the Prime Minister. “I’ve been praying and fasting about it. … There is a nondisclosure clause in it, so I couldn’t show it to you right away. But we are going to be reviewing (the treaty), as we are reviewing other security agreements that we have with many other countries,” he added.
The US also jumped on the wagon and sought a reset in ties with an eye on countering Beijing. Therefore, the week after Wale became Prime Minister, the Solomon Islands and the US made a series of announcements, including a bilateral partnership on earthquake monitoring and an investment incentive agreement.
“Wale’s election presents a significant opportunity for the United States to reset and strengthen engagement with the Solomon Islands after years of strained relations and growing geopolitical uncertainty,” the US-based think tank, Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), stated earlier.
Against that backdrop, the US-Solomon ship-riding agreement provides the most game-changing opportunity yet for Washington to expand its security presence in the region and, perhaps, keep a watch on Beijing’s personnel in the island state. Additionally, some believe it may help inspire confidence among the people of the southern Pacific state, who have come to take a distinct liking to China in recent years.
US Coast Guard cutters can now routinely operate in the Solomon Islands’ EEZ with local police aboard, marking a return of US assets and personnel to the area after a long period of limited access in the post-war years. More importantly, though, it will enhance surveillance of Solomon Islands’ waters, as the Coast Guard will deploy advanced radar, intelligence, and patrol capabilities to monitor Chinese fishing fleets and other vessels.
James Batley, a former Australian diplomat in the Solomon Islands, called the upcoming US Coast Guard deal a significant shift and noted that it highlighted Wale’s seriousness in his pledge to deliver change.
China’s Expanding Inroads In The Pacific
China is expanding its presence in Pacific island countries, as this would give it enhanced reach across the Indo-Pacific and help it counter what it sees as encirclement by the US and its allies in a potential Taiwan contingency. It typically uses economic aid, investment, and security ties to win recognition and support, and has been successful in persuading states to switch their recognition from Taiwan to China in the past few years—Solomon switched its diplomatic recognition in 2019.
After reaching a deal with the Solomon Islands, Beijing reportedly sought to negotiate similar agreements with other states in the region, including Kiribati, which is just about 3,218 kilometers from Hawaii, as previously reported by the EurAsian Times.
This rattled Australia, which traditionally wielded influence in the region, as well as the United States, which feared that China’s military presence here could threaten US military operations in the Indo-Pacific. These concerns were further amplified when China’s Type 055 Guided-Missile Destroyer docked at Port Vila, Vanuatu, in October 2024, and when Beijing secured a naval presence in the Cook Islands in 2025.
However, unwilling to surrender their long-held sway over the region, the US and Australia struck back with a diplomatic counteroffensive.
In late June, for instance, Australia signed the Nakamal Agreement with Vanuatu, which would prevent the construction of foreign military bases on Vanuatu’s soil. Similarly, it signed a deal with Papua New Guinea (PNG), securing access to the country’s military facilities and ensuring China will not have the same access to infrastructure here as it does in other PICs, as earlier explained in a detailed EurAsian Times report.
More recently, Australia signed the Ocean of Peace pact with Fiji, elevating ties to a formal treaty alliance and introducing the element of “mutual defense” in the relationship.
The United States, on its part, unveiled the US Pacific Partnership Strategy (PPS) following the China-Solomon Islands agreement. This elevated the Pacific Islands as a priority in US foreign policy and recognized the region as a vital part of the broader Indo-Pacific.
The US has so far signed shiprider agreements with more than 12 Pacific countries, including the Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, FSM, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.
It is safe to say that, after years of a limited presence in the region, the US is pairing economic and connectivity deals with security cooperation to strengthen Pacific partners and limit China’s room to expand its influence.
Against that backdrop, the upcoming ship-riding agreement with the Solomon Islands appears to be a nudge in that direction.
- Contact the author at sakshi.tiwari13 (at) outlook.com
- Follow EurAsian Times on Google News
