Solomon Islands Prime Minister Matthew Wale said Wednesday he would be “reviewing” his country’s secretive 2022 security pact with China, which rattled Canberra and Washington.

Asked about that pact alongside Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, the Solomons leader — who was elected last month — said he had been “praying and fasting” about the Chinese security deal.

“We are going to be reviewing, as we are reviewing other security agreements that we have with many other countries,” he said.

Australia and the United States have been sharply critical of the deal over concerns it could allow a permanent Chinese navy presence in the South Pacific.

It was signed under one of Wale’s predecessors, Manasseh Sogavare, who was seen as Beijing’s staunchest ally in the South Pacific.

Wale said the deal contained a non-disclosure agreement and he had not seen it until just before his visit to Australia.

“I have had to remove certain people from key positions. I have not been afforded a copy, even, of that agreement, until a day before I left, so I have not had a good look at it,” he told a news conference in Canberra.

Australia is the largest aid donor to the country of 800,000 people that sits 2,000 kilometres (1,240 miles) to its north-east and historically provided police support during crises.

After the Solomons switched diplomatic ties from Taiwan to Beijing in 2019 and struck the security pact, relations with Canberra and Washington deteriorated.

China quickly became the strategically located Pacific island state’s largest bilateral creditor, with Solomon Islands’ debt to Chinese banks for infrastructure projects doubling last year.

Seeking to counter Beijing’s influence, Australia has seized the opportunity to rebuild ties, hosting Wale on his first international visit as leader.

Albanese said Wednesday the two countries would begin work on a “comprehensive” new treaty as well as deepen ties in policing, with Australia seeking to be the top security partner for the Pacific.

The treaty will be “underpinned by mutual trust, respect, and open dialogue”, the prime minister said.

Deals on policing, infrastructure

“We have sought a reset in this relationship — we acknowledge there have been problems over the last few years,” Wale told reporters.

The Pacific should turn to other countries within the region for their security, he stressed.

The leaders also agreed to push ahead with a major police training deal.

Australia’s offer to fund the expansion of the Solomons own police force had stalled under the previous Solomon Islands government, which allowed Chinese police to enter villages to collect household and biometric data.

See also: Australia and New Zealand urge China to reveal details of Solomon Islands policing deal

Wale also said he was in discussions with Australia and the United States for financing for critical infrastructure such as ports.

Former Solomon Islands prime minister Sogavare rejected US offers of infrastructure grants, instead opting to partner with Chinese state companies.

Australia has sought to bind South Pacific countries closer by striking treaties with a string of small but strategically located island states, Tuvalu, Nauru and Papua New Guinea offering significant economic support in return for curbs on Chinese security ties.

Vanuatu and Fiji have said they are close to signing similar deals.

Researchers in Australia have created the largest map of cosmic magnetic fields ever assembled, revealing the invisible forces that shape galaxies across the Universe.

[Read More]

By Matthew Walsh and Ludovic Ehret

Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth struck a measured tone towards China at a major defence forum on Saturday, noting “rightful alarm” over Beijing’s military build-up but saying the United States sought a “stable equilibrium” in Asia.

Hegseth’s headline speech at Singapore’s Shangri-La Dialogue, which brings together top defence officials and experts from around 45 countries, contrasted with his strongly confrontational remarks on China at last year’s gathering.

Unlike Beijing, which has sent a panel of military experts and scholars instead of defence minister Dong Jun for the second year running, Hegseth is leading a bumper US delegation to the event that provides chances for both open debate and behind-closed-doors diplomacy.

“When we look across the region today, there is rightful alarm regarding China’s historic military build-up and the expansion of its military activities in the region and beyond,” Hegseth said.

Washington does not seek “needless confrontation in the region”, but rather “a genuinely stable equilibrium (in Asia) that works for Americans as well as our allies”, he said.

That means “a favourable but durable balance of power in which no state, including China, can impose its hegemony and hold the security or prosperity of our nation and our allies in question”, he added.

He said the United States sought “respectful” and “good-faith” engagement with Beijing, adding: “I wish my counterpart was here at this conference, but I look forward to other options when we can cross paths.”

Trump visited China this month, talking up “fantastic” trade deals but giving few details and later suggesting Washington could use its arms sales to self-ruled Taiwan as a bargaining chip with Beijing.

There had been “no change” in Washington’s stance towards Taiwan, but “any decision about future Taiwan arms sales… will rest with” US President Donald Trump, Hegseth said.

Vibe shift

The remarks contrasted sharply with last year’s event, when Hegseth painted China as a potentially “imminent” threat to security and outlined a swaggering vision of muscular American deterrence.

That day, he also took potshots at Beijing’s absent minister, saying: “We are here this morning, and somebody else isn’t.”

Chinese delegate Da Wei, director of the Center for International Security and Strategy at Beijing’s Tsinghua University, said this year’s address was “much more moderate”.

However, he found Hegseth’s depiction of China “ironic”, adding: “Everyone in the room must have been thinking: who is really hegemonic?

“Given what the US is doing in Iran and has done in Venezuela, I think it’s clear to everyone,” Da said.

US delegate Tammy Duckworth, a Democratic senator and strong Trump critic, said she was “somewhat disturbed” by Hegseth’s remarks, viewing them as overly conciliatory towards China.

“I worry that this administration is being distracted into wars that they’ve started in other parts of the world at the expense of our commitment here in the Indo-Pacific,” she told reporters.

Instead of Dong, China has sent experts and scholars from its army’s academic institutions, led by Major General Meng Xiangqing of the National Defense University.

Analysts have said Dong’s no-show reflects Beijing’s confidence as an established power with little inclination to answer publicly for its assertive moves in the region.

But some argue that China is also running the risk of having no senior policymaker present if two major security issues come up: reopening the Strait of Hormuz, and Beijing’s claim to Taiwan.

Hegseth again urged US allies to spend more on their own defence, singling out South Korea, Japan, Australia and the Philippines for praise while threatening consequences for nations that “free-ride on the generosity of the American taxpayer”.

“Those days are over. Allies who refuse to step up and carry their own weight for our collective defense will face a clear shift in how we do business.”

Iran threat

Hegseth’s remarks came as a peace deal between the United States and Iran to end their war remained elusive.

A White House official told AFP on Friday that Trump, who is weighing a final decision on a potential accord, would only commit if Iran met all his conditions.

But Iran has said “no final agreement” is in place, and its state media has rebutted parts of Trump’s characterisation of the deal.

Hegseth said Washington was “more than capable” of restarting the war if it wanted.

The head of the Pentagon is also due to meet his British and Australian counterparts as part of the AUKUS security alliance.

Australian media outlets have reported, citing unnamed sources, that the AUKUS nations are expected to announce a major project, perhaps involving uncrewed underwater vehicles.

chris murkin posted a photo:

VH-YVI North American Texan T-6G USAF 51-15202 15202 TA-202
Photo Taken at Warbirds over Scone NSW Australia March 2026
HAF_6974

jadedoz posted a photo:

Inspector of custodial services says inmates are sleeping on the floor and denied basic entitlements due to ‘a systemic failure across multiple prisons’

• Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates

• Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast

Inmates in Western Australia are sleeping on mattresses on the floor of overcrowded cells and subjected to “cruel, inhuman and degrading” conditions, prompting the jails watchdog to call for urgent reform.

Most of WA’s correctional facilities are in crisis, with an increased level of harm observed across the system, the state’s inspector of custodial services, Eamon Ryan, said in a report tabled in parliament on Tuesday.

chris murkin posted a photo:

1940 VH-WWY CA-3 Wirraway RAAF A20-176
Photo Taken at Warbirds over Scone NSW Australia March 2026
HAF_6030

Aussie~mobs posted a photo:

Written on reverse – all very disjointed and written all over the place. Please advise me if I’ve transcribed words incorrectly. Sometimes it doesn’t make sense.

29/4/1917
Dear Mary
This was taken while gardening and digging up ground for potatoes to be planted for the troops. Some old pot took it 4 each. A most remarkable thing to us happened today. Yesterday we were isolated for mumps and measles etc and today we were transferred from hut 30 to a new lot of huts ours is 13 the wash house is no 3.
Note Thorpe marked X, McGowan 14 stone next to me. What do you think in the name H.M.A.T. WILTSHIRE 13 words.
Tomorrow will be the start of 13 weeks since we left Brisbane. Will we have luck or not? I was put as Corporal over the Chows and was told if anyone got away I would go in the clink.
We saw a great sham? fight today at Hurdcott visitors were here and two fellows got badly hurt one lost his eye
gas, bowls, cricket anything. Pretty to see.
I was luck again left watch in bath room for 15 minutes and got it.
Watch losing again 10 minutes each day.
Love and kisses, Harold

In Sydney’s Circular Quay, a 6.5-meter-tall installation spins, twirls, and totters amid a public thoroughfare. Titled “There, Now, Here,” the kinetic artwork is by the Brooklyn-based duo Wade and Leta and is in almost constant motion, thanks to wind, motors, and willing participants hopping on a see-saw.

With black and white stripes alongside a more muted palette, the colors of the playground-style project reference Dorothea Mackellar’s beloved poem “My Country,” which professes her devotion to the Australian landscape and what she dubs the “sunburnt country.” Harnessing the washed-out tones of a sun-bleached environment, the artists present their signature bold works in more subtle hues, as if the pieces have been baking under the light for years.

A sonic component created by Josh Burgess accompanies the sculpture and can be manipulated by the public through accessible controls. “If one were to listen closely, they can hear the rush of water on the rocks, the dings of the light rail, the crosswalk signal, and most importantly, the local wildlife,” the artists say. “Our favorite piece is a nod to the ‘bush doof’ using the sounds of a lyrebird as the structure.”

“There, Now, Here” is the pair’s first public work in Australia and part of the annual light and music festival Vivid Sydney. Find more on Wade and Leta’s Instagram.

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article An Interactive Sculpture by Wade and Leta Celebrates the Sun-Bleached Australian Landscape appeared first on Colossal.