Opposition leader Sogavare warns Wale’s government to be careful with the planned shiprider agreement to be signed tomorrow – ‘surrendering Solomon Islands’ sovereign control over its own waters’
BY DOUGLAS VAHIA
Leader of Opposition Manasseh Sogavare warns that the Wale Government’s plan to sign a shiprider agreement with the United States amounts to surrendering Solomon Islands’ sovereign control over its own waters.
Mr Sogavare also questioned why PM Wale acted without cabinet approval on this risky deal, adding that Wale has been acting like a dictator since he came into power.
The deal ‘Agreement Concerning Counter Illicit Transnational Maritime Activity’ will be signed tomorrow at the US embassy.
Sogavare, who orchestrated the secretive security pact with China in 2022, also called on the Government to release the full text and table it in Parliament before taking any further step toward signature.
“This Government wants Solomon Islanders to believe this is simply a security partnership,” Sogavare said in a statement by the Opposition office yesterday.
“It is not. Read closely. Agreements of this kind hand a foreign navy standing legal authority to act in our waters in exchange for a theoretical right Solomon Islands could never realistically exercise. That is not partnership between equals. That is our sovereignty being sold, one clause at a time.”
Solomon Islands is the last of the region’s long-standing holdouts on this agreement, the Opposition statement said.
Twelve Pacific Island countries—Cook Islands, Fiji, the Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu—have already signed a shiprider agreement with the United States. Of those twelve, three—the Federated States of Micronesia, Palau and Samoa—have since been upgraded to an “enhanced” or “remote-authorisation” model, allowing US Coast Guard vessels to board and enforce on the host nation’s behalf even when no local officer is on board.
History across the Pacific shows these agreements rarely remain in their original, more limited form. That is why the terms Solomon Islands agrees to today will shape our sovereignty for years to come, the statement said.
Every version of this agreement signed elsewhere in the Pacific follows the same American template. In the near-identical text Vanuatu signed in 2016, United States vessels may act unilaterally, boarding, searching and pursuing suspect vessels in Vanuatu’s waters whenever a local shiprider is simply “not available”—a threshold the host country does not control.
In exchange, Vanuatu received only a mirror-image right to do the same in United States waters, a right no Pacific island maritime service the size of Solomon Islands could realistically exercise.
If Solomon Islands signs the same template, it should expect no different. Regional commentators have already identified this same imbalance in other Pacific agreements. That is not reciprocity. It is a one-way transfer of authority dressed up as an equal partnership.
The Wale Government will argue that the agreement is needed to combat drug traffickers, narco-submarines and illegal fishing. Those are genuine threats, and Solomon Islands has every right to seek assistance in addressing them, the Opposition statement said.
But genuine security concerns cannot justify granting standing enforcement powers in our territorial waters without full public scrutiny. The question is not whether we need help, but what legal authority we are being asked to surrender in return.
Other small states facing the same proposal negotiated stronger safeguards. Jamaica and Barbados both pushed back on the same American template and secured consent-based provisions requiring telephonic or written permission before any boarding operation rather than accepting automatic entry, the Opposition statement said.
Stephen Vasciannie, a Jamaican legal commentator, has publicly advanced the same sovereignty concerns. If Caribbean nations a fraction of our size could hold the line on their own waters, Solomon Islands can too. The Wale Government has not explained why it did not even try.
This is consistent with the position maintained by both the DCGA and GNUT Governments throughout their time in office: agreements affecting the sovereignty and security of our nation must be shaped on Solomon Islands’ terms, tested against regional frameworks and subjected to parliamentary scrutiny—not rushed through to satisfy a foreign timetable.
The Opposition has received information that, despite the Prime Minister’s announcement that the shiprider agreement will be signed in Honiara, no decision to enter into the agreement has in fact been made by Government Caucus or Cabinet.
If those reports are correct, the process raises equally serious questions about the Government’s own decision-making, the Opposition statement said.
Sogavare questioned why Prime Minister Matthew Wale would make such a significant commitment without first obtaining the endorsement of either Cabinet or Government Caucus.
“The Prime Minister has, since taking office, demonstrated a pattern of unilateral decision-making even though he knows he leads a coalition of six political parties. This is nothing short of dictatorial leadership,” Sogavare said.
“The Prime Minister must clarify to this nation why he bypassed Cabinet.”
Meanwhile, China has reacted by calling on all countries engaging with Pacific nations to respect their independence and ensure cooperation is not directed at any third party.
China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian made the remarks after being asked about Solomon Islands’ decision to sign a ship rider agreement with the United States that will allow the US Coast Guard to patrol the country’s waters with Solomon Islands police officers on board.
“China and the Solomon Islands are comprehensive strategic partners featuring mutual respect and common development for a new era.
“We stand ready to work with the new government of the Solomon Islands to expand practical cooperation in various fields and better benefit the people of both countries,” Lin said.
“China supports efforts by the international community to help Pacific Island countries realise sustainable development.
“At the same time, in developing relations with Pacific Island countries, all parties should respect their independence, put development first, and uphold openness and inclusiveness. Relevant cooperation should not be targeted at any third party.”
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