“China’s growing engagement since 2022 has turned police training into one of the most intense areas of competition for influence between China and Solomon Islands’ traditional security partners, including Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. The intensity of this competition led the United States in 2023 to reopen its embassy in Honiara, closed since 1993, after a US Coast Guard cutter was denied a scheduled port call in Honiara in 2022. Given Solomon Islands’ strategic location and Beijing’s interest in it, police training in Solomon Islands should therefore be understood beyond the narrow frame of law-enforcement cooperation, and instead within a wider context of Chinese geopolitical and military strategy.”
“China has, over the last three years, deepened its engagement with the RSIPF through offering an increasing number of training courses, donating more policing equipment, and expanding its training programmes across the country’s nine provinces. Since 2022, China has conducted at least 70 training programmes in Solomon Islands and, by conservative estimates (based on publicly announced courses), has taught over 1,170 officers across various provinces. China has also held at least four training courses in China between 2022 and 2025, provided to at least 58 officers.”
“Noting the success of these schemes, China has since 2022 begun strategically expanding its role in community policing, increasing the total number of community-policing initiatives from three in 2022 to 16 in 2025. Nevertheless, until 2024, most of these schemes prioritised laying a foundation for community engagement and did not address the more serious aspects of community policing. In 2023, sports engagements accounted for 75% of all community-policing initiatives, mostly youth-oriented events. By 2024, this had changed, and crime-prevention initiatives rose to 17% and 24% in 2025. At the same time, community engagements expanded significantly, from 17% in 2024 to 32% in 2025, introducing cultural exchanges and police-awareness sessions.”