A leaked draft of the pact included provisions for Chinese police to maintain social order, and for Chinese naval vessels to replenish in the Solomon Islands – alarming Australia at the potential for a Chinese military presence less than 2,000km (1,240 miles away).

New Zealand’s foreign minister Nanaia Mahuta, said on Wednesday Auckland had made clear to both Solomon Islands and China its grave concerns at the pact’s potential to destabilise the Pacific region’s security.

“New Zealand has a long-term security partnership with Solomon Islands, and I am saddened that Solomon Islands has chosen nonetheless to pursue a security agreement outside the region.”

Mahuta added that an upcoming Pacific Islands Forum leaders’ meeting would “discuss how we can build our region’s resilience to the geopolitical pressures that are impacting us all”.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Solomon Islands was breaching an agreement within the forum – the main regional grouping – for nations to discuss defence matters with the group before making major decisions.

“We are concerned about the militarisation of the Pacific and we continue to call on the Solomons to work with the Pacific with any concerns around their security they may have,” Ardern told New Zealand media outlet Stuff.co.nz.

Solomon Islands lawmakers urged Sogavare to publicly disclose the terms of the security pact. He said the pact would be disclosed after a “process”, adding the security cooperation with China was not directed at any countries or external alliances, “rather at our own internal security situation”.

“I ask all our neighbours, friends and partners to respect the sovereign interests of the Solomon Islands on the assurance that the decision will not adversely impact or undermine the peace and harmony of our region,” he said.

China-Solomons pact ‘does not target third party’ but Australia unconvinced

Sogavare told parliament a day earlier the pact would not allow a Chinese military base, and said on Wednesday the security pact allows for the protection of infrastructure, after riots in November saw buildings torched and lives lost.

In the middle of an Australian national election campaign, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been criticised by the opposition Labor party for “the largest diplomatic failure in the Pacific since World War II”.

Opposition leader Anthony Albanese said it was clear “relationships have broken down” between Australia and Sogavare, and that the Morrison government should have been engaging more deeply for longer.

Morrison said on Wednesday Australia had communicated its position to Sogavare clearly but hadn’t sent the foreign minister because it did not want to tell Pacific islands what to do.

“I respect their sovereignty and I respect their electoral mandates,” he said.

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Australian troops and police deployed to Solomon Islands amid general unrest and Chinatown blaze

Australian troops and police deployed to Solomon Islands amid general unrest and Chinatown blaze

Australia has provided policing support to its Pacific island neighbour, under a bilateral security treaty signed in 2017, and an earlier regional policing mission.

Australia’s foreign minister Marise Payne said on Wednesday the pact had “not been agreed in an open and transparent way”.

The minister for international development and Pacific Zed Seselja met with Sogavare last week to urge him not to sign the pact with China. In a joint statement with Payne on Tuesday evening, he said Australia was “deeply disappointed”.