Solomon Islands says US Coast Guard patrol deal will be signed in Honiara

The Solomon Islands will sign an agreement allowing the US Coast Guard to patrol its waters with local police aboard, Prime Minister Matthew Wale said during a visit to Washington.

A Solomon Islands statement said the ship rider agreement will be signed in the capital, Honiara, next week. It said the deal is intended to strengthen joint maritime enforcement and surveillance.

Wale met US Coast Guard vice commandant Admiral Thomas Allan in Washington on Monday. He also met US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau to discuss deepening bilateral ties, according to a State Department readout.

The Solomon Islands statement said Wale pointed to the need to improve security across the Pacific, citing threats from drug trafficking, human trafficking and illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.

The Solomons became China's closest security partner in the South Pacific after signing a secret security pact in 2022. The country also blocked a US Coast Guard vessel from making a port call that year. Wale was elected in May after pledging change.

The US Coast Guard has expanded patrols in the South Pacific in recent years. Its vessels have carried local Pacific police as ship riders to help inspect fishing fleets across large areas of ocean. In 2024, ship riders on a US Coast Guard vessel boarded Chinese fishing boats in Vanuatu and Kiribati, prompting protests from Chinese officials after some vessels were found to be fishing illegally.

Solomon Islands has a 1.5 million square kilometre exclusive economic zone. Like many South Pacific countries, it counts tuna fishing as a major industry.

James Batley, a former Australian diplomat in the Solomons, said the US Coast Guard deal was a significant shift and showed Wale was acting on his pledge to deliver change. Batley also said there was anxiety in the Pacific about transnational drug crime, including narco submarines appearing in Solomon Islands, and that the United States could argue it could help in that area.

Wale's meeting with Landau also included discussion of possible investment, including Bina Harbour, where Solomon Islands wants to develop a factory to process tuna for export. Reported Chinese interest in developing Bina Harbour has previously raised concern in Australia that it could be used as a dual-purpose military and civilian port.

The State Department readout said Wale and Landau signed a letter of intent to return the Peace Corps to Solomon Islands. It also said the United States would provide $6 million in new funding to expand its unexploded ordnance removal programme.

Wale's office said he will next travel to Tokyo to meet Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.