Solomon Islands parliament elected Matthew Wale as prime minister Thursday, 26 votes to 22, over Beijing-aligned candidate Peter Shanel Agovaka. Wale spent years as opposition leader calling the 2022 China security deal a personal pact between Sogavare and Beijing, not a legitimate state agreement, and pledged to publish its never-disclosed terms. The complication: a June 2025 CCP Central Committee readout quoted Wale praising the 2019 switch from Taiwan to Beijing as "the right choice" and saying Solomon Islands wants to deepen party-building exchanges with China. That's a long way from the man who called the security deal protection for Sogavare against his own people. Wale now runs a coalition where some ministers want no daylight with Beijing, and China has run at least 70 police training programs inside the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force since 2022. Publishing the security agreement's text would be the first real test of whether his pre-election posture survives contact with the job.