Solomon Islands' opposition leader Matthew Wale on Wednesday slammed Australia for supplying dozens of US-made semi-automatic rifles to the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force (RSIPF).
The opposition leader observed that Australia is being driven by its "anxiety" about China's growing presence in the Pacific region.
"Obviously, we do not have external threats. So, why the introduction of these high-powered guns? Or are we on the pathway of being militarized again?” he wondered.
Wale also objected to the move given the Islands' “dark history with the guns”: the South Pacific nation faced a five-year ethnic conflict beginning in 1998 that claimed around 200 lives.
With this in mind, he noted that receiving MK18 rifles for a country which has fewer than 1,800 police officers is akin to arming “ourselves against our own citizens".
Canberra defended the move by saying that the weapons would provide the RSIPF with "enhanced capabilities to counter criminal threats and maintain peace and stability" ahead of the Pacific Games next year and the island nation's national elections in 2024.
The delivery of weapons and military vehicles comes days after a group of 32 police officers from the Islands received training in policing techniques in China under the bilateral security pact signed in April, an agreement that alarmed the US and its allies.
The Beijing-Honiara security pact was signed months after the government of prime minister Manasseh Sogavare quelled massive riots in the capital last November. Beijing says its security pact will allow Chinese police to protect the country's personnel and safeguard Chinese projects on the island.