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Tag: Solomon Islands

  • Papua New Guinea Approves Defence Treaty With Australia

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    SYDNEY (Reuters) -The Papua New Guinea cabinet has approved a defence treaty with Australia, Prime Minister James Marape said on Thursday, as Canberra seeks to block China from expanding its security presence in the Pacific.

    Under the Pukpuk defence treaty, Australia and Papua are obliged to come to each other’s aid if attacked.

    “Australia has only one other mutual defence treaty of this type and at our request Papua New Guinea will now sign this treaty,” Marape said in a statement.

    “This reflects the depth of trust, history, and shared future between our two nations.”

    The treaty would also allow as many as 10,000 Papua New Guineans to serve with the Australian Defence Force, under dual arrangements, the statement said.

    The landmark treaty still requires ratification from both nations’ parliaments.

    The agreement was supposed to have been approved when Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was in Port Moresby during celebrations of PNG’s 50th independence anniversary two weeks ago.

    The two countries agreed a joint communique on the text of the pact, after a meeting of PNG’s cabinet lacked the quorum required to ratify it.

    Albanese also travelled to Vanuatu last month but failed to secure a A$500 million ($330.70 million) security partnership because a coalition partner in the Vanuatu government called for further scrutiny.

    Australia has sought to use the security deals to block Chinese influence in the region, after China struck a security pact with the Solomon Islands.

    The United States struck a defence pact with PNG in 2023 to counter China’s security ambitions.

    The Pukpuk treaty also recognises that both PNG and Australia can maintain defence relationships with other nations, Marape said. “Provisions are in place to respect third-party relationships,” he said.

    ($1 = 1.5119 Australian dollars)

    (Reporting by Christine Chen in Sydney; Editing by Praveen Menon and Kate Mayberry)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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  • Rare giant rat that can grow to the size of a baby and chew through coconuts caught on camera for first time

    Rare giant rat that can grow to the size of a baby and chew through coconuts caught on camera for first time

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    An ultra-rare gigantic rat so big that it puts New York City’s subway-dwelling rodents to shame has been caught on camera for the first time. 

    Uromys vika, a giant rat known for being “one of the world’s rarest rodents” according to the University of Melbourne, is found in just one isolated spot throughout the world – the island of Vangunu in the Solomon Islands. The species was only first identified by a single animal discovered in 2017, but recently, university researchers said that after placing out glass oil lamps filled with sesame oil, they captured 95 images of four different animals in the species using trap cameras, the first images to document the species. 

    It’s believed that of the animals documented, one is a male while the others are female. 

    While little is known about the species, scientists are sure of one thing – they’re huge. 

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    The Vangunu giant rat is the first new species of rodent described from Solomon Islands in over 80 years. 

    Courtesy of Dr. Tyrone Lavery/University of Melbourne


    “The rare giant rat is at least twice the size of a common rat, is tree-dwelling and reportedly can chew through coconuts with its teeth,” the University of Melbourne said in a press release. According to science news site LiveScience, the rodents can grow to be about a foot-and-a-half long – about the size of a newborn baby. 

    Along with their large bodies, the rodents are also known to have long tails and “very short ears,” researchers found.

    The rodent species is considered to be critically endangered, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List, as the region in which it lives is just a 210-square-mile island. The area in which it has been found is a forest area less than 30 square miles that’s been rapidly declining due to logging. 

    The discovery of the giant rat in 2017 was the first time in more than 80 years a new rodent species had been identified in the Solomon Islands. 

    “Capturing images of the Vangunu giant rat for the first time is extremely positive news for this poorly known species,” lead study author Tyrone Lavery from the University of Melbourne said. “… The images show the Vangunu giant rat lives in Zaira’s primary forests, and these lands (particularly the Dokoso tribal area) represent the last remaining habitat for the species. Logging consent has been granted at Zaira, and if it proceeds it will undoubtably lead to extinction of the Vangunu giant rat.”

    Li Cohen


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    Li Cohen is a social media producer and trending content writer for CBS News.

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  • China-sceptic leader of Solomon Islands largest province removed

    China-sceptic leader of Solomon Islands largest province removed

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    Daniel Suidani was known for his support of Taiwan, even after Honiara switched diplomatic allegiance to Beijing.

    Daniel Suidani, a vocal critic of China and leader of the Solomon Islands’s largest province, has been removed from office after a no-confidence vote in the provincial legislature, according to Australia’s public broadcaster ABC.

    Legislators brought the vote after accusing Suidani, premier of Malaita province in the Pacific Islands nation, of misappropriating funds, according to ABC.

    His supporters gathered in small numbers in the provincial capital Auki around the time of the vote, where they were met by riot police.

    ABC said Suidani, who was not at the provincial assembly, lost the vote after 17 members voted against him.

    Suidani has long criticised the decision of Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare to switch diplomatic allegiance to China from Taiwan in 2019.

    He refused Chinese investment in his province and held numerous public events to celebrate the arrival of Taiwanese aid consignments in Malaita during the COVID-19 pandemic, although the assistance had not been approved by Sogavare’s government.

    Suidani’s continued support for Taipei brought him into direct conflict with the Solomon Islands’s One China policy and led to an increasingly acrimonious and public spat between him and Sogavare.

    In 2021, anger over the treatment of Malaita by the central government and the Solomon Islands’s approach to Beijing helped drive unrest in Honiara, which is on the neighbouring island of Guadalcanal.

    Rioters targeted buildings and businesses in the capital’s Chinatown district,t and at least three people were killed before calm was restored with the help of Australian police.

    Last April, it emerged that Sogavare had signed a security pact with China, raising the alarm in Australia and elsewhere.

    The United States has been stepping up its engagement in the Pacific amid China’s growing influence.

    Last month, the US reopened its embassy in Honiara.

    It had closed down the mission in 1993.

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  • Magnitude 7 quake shocks Solomon Islands but no major damage

    Magnitude 7 quake shocks Solomon Islands but no major damage

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    WELLINGTON, New Zealand — A powerful magnitude 7.0 earthquake rattled the Solomon Islands Tuesday afternoon, overturning tables and sending people racing for higher ground.

    There were no immediate reports of widespread damage or injuries. An initial tsunami warning was withdrawn after the threat passed.

    Government spokesperson George Herming said he was in his office on the second floor of a building in the capital, Honiara, when the quake rocked the city. He said he crawled underneath his table.

    “It’s a huge one that just shocked everybody,” Herming said.

    “We have tables and desks, books and everything scattered all over the place as a result of the earthquake, but there’s no major damage to structure or buildings,” he said.

    Herming said the Solomon Islands, which is home to about 700,000 people, doesn’t have any big high-rises that might be vulnerable to a quake. He said there was some panic around the town and traffic jams as everybody tried to drive to higher ground.

    Freelance journalist Charley Piringi said he was standing outside near schools on the outskirts of Honiara when the quake sent the children running.

    “The earthquake rocked the place,” he said. “It was a huge one. We were all shocked, and everyone is running everywhere.”

    The quake’s epicenter was in the ocean about 56 kilometers (35 miles) southwest of Honiara at a depth of 13 kilometers (8 miles), according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

    The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center initially warned of possible hazardous waves for the region but later downgraded a tsunami warning as the threat passed.

    The Solomon Islands sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, a arc along the Pacific Ocean rim where many volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur.

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  • Solomon Islands shaken by huge earthquake, tsunami alert issued

    Solomon Islands shaken by huge earthquake, tsunami alert issued

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    Pacific nation’s government advises people to move to higher ground following magnitude 7.0 quake

    A large earthquake has been reported near the Solomon Islands in the Pacific.

    A tsunami warning was issued for an area of the coast within 300km (185 miles) of the epicentre, and the prime minister’s office urged people to move to higher ground.

    Michael Salini, a businessman and political commentator on Tulagi Island, which lies across from Honiara, told Al Jazeera that people were “very worried”.

    “Everyone has run up the hills and [are waiting] for any possible tsunami warning,” he added, saying that most people were aware of the signs of a tsunami.

    The earthquake cut power to some areas of Honiara and the state broadcaster was also down, but the government said there was no major damage to buildings in the capital.

    “This was a big one,” Joy Nisha, a receptionist with the Heritage Park Hotel in the capital Honiara, told the AFP news agency. “Some of the things in the hotel fell. Everyone seems OK, but panicky.”

    The United States Geological Survey said the magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck the Malango region, about 55km (34 miles) west of the capital, at a depth of 15km (9 miles). It revised the size of the tremor from an earlier magnitude of 7.3.

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  • Solomon Islands agreed to accord after China references axed

    Solomon Islands agreed to accord after China references axed

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    WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Solomon Islands agreed to sign an accord between the United States and more than a dozen Pacific nations only after indirect references to China were removed, the Solomon Islands foreign minister said Tuesday.

    “There were some references that put us in a position where we’ll have to choose sides, and we did not want to be placed in a position where we have to choose sides,” Jeremiah Manele told reporters in Wellington.

    His remarks represented the first time Solomon Islands has publicly acknowledged it had initial concerns about the agreement and expressed why it had a change of heart.

    The accord was signed in Washington last week, with President Joe Biden telling visiting Pacific leaders that the U.S. was committed to bolstering its presence in the region and becoming a more collaborative partner.

    The administration pledged the U.S. would add $810 million in new aid for Pacific Island nations over the next decade. The summit came amid growing U.S. concern about China’s military and economic influence in the Pacific.

    But the final agreement focused mainly on issues like climate change, economic growth and natural disasters. A small section on security contained mostly broad language, and while it specifically condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it made no mention of China.

    Ahead of the summit, diplomats had said Solomon Islands was signaling it was unlikely to sign the joint declaration, which would have represented a diplomatic blow for both the U.S. and the Pacific nations.

    Many in the U.S. and the Pacific had been eager to get Solomon Islands on board after becoming alarmed about the increasing ties between Solomon Islands and China, especially after the two nations signed a security agreement earlier this year.

    “In the initial draft, there were some references that we were not comfortable with, but then with the officials, after discussions and negotiations, we were able to find common ground,” Manele said.

    Pressed further by reporters on those concerns, Manele acknowledged the draft had contained indirect references to China.

    He said the Solomon Islands security agreement with China was part of a national security strategy and there was no provision in it for China to build a military base, as some had feared.

    Manele met with his New Zealand counterpart Nanaia Mahuta in Wellington at a potentially awkward venue — Parliament’s so-called Rainbow Room, which is dedicated to the nation’s gay, lesbian and transgender communities. The room features photographs of LGBTQ lawmakers and framed copies of bills relevant to those communities.

    In Solomon Islands, gay and lesbian sex remain illegal.

    Manele said Solomon Islands was a young democracy.

    “These are emerging issues. These are challenges that as a young country we will find ways to discuss,” he said.

    Mahuta said there was no undertone or message intended in the choice of location. “It was the only available room for us to use,” she said.

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