Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare met Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang in Beijing on Monday.

Mr Sogavare and Mr Li presided over the signing of the agreements, which included an implementation plan for police co-operation through to 2025.

“We are here to further boost relations,” Mr Sogavare told Mr Li.

The country, 2000 kilometres north-east of Australia, has been China’s biggest success in a campaign to expand its presence in the South Pacific.

Mr Sogavare’s government switched official recognition in 2019 to Beijing from Taiwan, the self-ruled island democracy claimed by the mainland’s ruling Communist Party as part of its territory.

“Solomon Islands, sir, has a lot to learn from China’s development experience,” Mr Sogavare told Mr Li. He welcomed an opportunity for dialogue to enhance “bilateral interaction and co-operation”.

The two governments “have decided to establish a comprehensive strategic partnership of mutual respect and common development,” Mr Li said.

“The relationship between China and the Solomon Islands has developed rapidly, and we can now say that it is very fruitful.”

The Solomon Islands signed a secretive security agreement with Beijing last year that might have allowed Chinese military forces in the South Pacific.

However, Mr Sogavare rejected suggestions his government might give Beijing a military foothold in the region.

The nearby island nation of Kiribati also switched official relations to Beijing in 2019.

China’s foreign ministry said last week Mr Sogavare’s visit would “inject new momentum” into relations and “deepen mutual political trust”.

China’s efforts to develop closer relations with other Pacific governments have largely failed.

The Biden administration has responded by announcing plans to reopen an embassy in the Solomon Islands.

Mr Biden convened a summit of Pacific Island leaders in September to unveil a strategy that included climate change, maritime security and preventing overfishing.

Mr Biden promised $A1.2 billion in new aid for Pacific Island nations over the next decade, including $A195 million to address climate change.

–AAP