China and Solomon Islands have signed a new deal on police cooperation, deepening their bilateral partnership four years after the Pacific island nation cut ties with Taiwan and formally established relations with Beijing.

The “implementation plan” on policing, which will run until the end of 2025, was one of nine documents signed on Monday following talks between visiting Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare and Chinese Premier Li Qiang at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People.

Mr Li said that the development of China-Solomon Islands relations over the past four years had been “very fruitful”.

Solomon Islands’ decision to switch its diplomatic recognition to Beijing was “the correct choice that conforms to the trend of the times,” he added.

Mr Sogavare, in turn, told Mr Li his country “has a lot to learn from China’s development experience”.

Also signed between the two countries was an agreement on a “Sports Technical Assistance Project” for this year’s Pacific Games in the Solomon Islands capital Honiara, for which Beijing has committed to building the host stadium.

Mr Sogavare was expected to be in China until Saturday, and will officially open his country’s Beijing embassy as well as visit the economic powerhouse provinces of Jiangsu and Guangdong.

In 2019, China and the Solomon Islands officially established diplomatic relations after Beijing persuaded the poor Pacific nation to sever ties with self-ruled Taiwan, whose territory China claims.

China–US compete for Pacific influence

Mounting geopolitical rivalry between China and the United States, meanwhile, has brought the two powers to loggerheads in the region.

Their jockeying for influence has been a boon to Pacific governments, with aid, loans and construction project windfalls flowing into their coffers to the tune of tens of millions of dollars.