Australia will help bolster the Solomon Islands police force to reduce the need for Chinese officers on the ground and diminish security co-operation with Beijing.
A total of $190 million over four years will help strengthen the force after Honiara requested Australia's help to double the number of officers to about 3000.
Enlarging the domestic police force would reduce "its reliance on external partners over time", the two governments said a joint statement, with Canberra unhappy about a Chinese policing presence in the Solomons under a security pact.
But Australia hasn't linked the funding to a deal to expel the Chinese officers, after a similar funding pact struck with Papua New Guinea that ruled out Beijing striking a security agreement with Port Moresby.
"The Solomon Islands, of course, is a sovereign nation, they have some measures in place and we expect that to continue," Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters in Canberra on Friday.
"But we also expect that as a result of this agreement, what we've done is make sure that Australia remains a security partner of choice."
Australian Strategic Policy Institute national director Justin Bassi called for a concrete reassurance from Solomon Islands that it would not engage China and would use the Australian agreement over the Chinese one.
"It's not in Australia's interests that the agreement between China and Solomons is operationalised in a way that increases China's security footprint in the region," he told AAP.
The Australian package includes support for a new police training centre in Honiara. (Luke Costin/AAP PHOTOS)
On top of acting as a counterbalance to China, the pact also benefits Australia by improving the Solomons police force and reducing Honiara's need to establish a more expensive defence force, Mr Bassi said.Â
It carried "the added benefit of protecting Australia and the region from China having more of an interest, which is really vital".
Australia sees security in the Pacific as purely the remit of regional countries and has ruled out a Chinese policing presence.
The package includes support for training and a new police training centre in Honiara.
"It's about the capacity of the police force to provide security and what that does is reduce any need for outside support," Mr Albanese added.
The announcement comes after a no-confidence motion was moved and then withdrawn against Solomons Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele in the local parliament.
Solomon Islands Prime Minister James Manele's predecessor signed a security pact with China. (Mick Tsikas/AAP PHOTOS)
There is confidence in broad support for increasing and strengthening the police force on both sides of politics in the Solomons, after Honiara was clear about there being no permanent military presence and Australia would be the first point of contact for security help.
The implementation of the funding and measures to improve policing will be worked through in early 2025.
A police training hub opened in Brisbane earlier in December and will act as a base for deployments of Pacific police, when countries request help with major events or crises.
It's part of the wider Pacific Policing Initiative, designed by 11 Pacific Island police chiefs and supported by $400 million in Australian funding.