1. China’s role in the region remains contentious Solomon Islands is China’s biggest security ally in the region and prime minister Jeremiah Manele’s decision to block all external partners from attending this year’s summit fuelled speculation that the move was aimed at keeping Taiwan out of the meeting. For more than 30 years, Taiwan has been deemed a “development partner” to the Pacific forum, so its exclusion – along with China and the US – became one of the key talking points of the forum. Palau’s president, Surangel Whipps Jr,…
Tag: Solomon Islands
Albanese went to Vanuatu to sign a $500m agreement – but leaves empty-handed thanks to concerns about China
The federal government is racing to save a major new agreement with Vanuatu, after Anthony Albanese’s plans to sign the deal were rebuffed over concerns about infrastructure funding from China. Speaking alongside Vanuatu’s prime minister, Jotham Napat, on Tuesday, Albanese said he was confident the Nakamal agreement will be “able to be signed soon”, talking up cooperation and proper process with Vanuatu’s governing coalition. The Australian prime minister travelled to Port Vila before this week’s Pacific Islands Forum, hoping to sign the agreement, which would see Australia spend up to…
Pacific Islands Forum: climate crisis tops agenda as China exclusion casts shadow over leaders meeting
Climate change, rising seas and China’s push for influence are set to dominate talks at the Pacific Islands Forum in Solomon Islands this week, in a meeting already marked by geopolitical tensions. The lead up to the forum has already been fraught with tensions after Solomon Islands prime minister Jeremiah Manele excluded external partners – including China, the US and Taiwan – from discussions. A proposal to declare the Pacific an “Ocean of Peace” and the climate crisis are among the key issues likely to be discussed as Pacific leaders…
Tuvalu considers pulling out of Pacific leaders’ summit amid China-linked power struggle
Tuvalu’s prime minister Feletei Teo said his country may pull out of the region’s top political meeting next month, after host nation Solomon Islands moved to block all external partners – including China, US and Taiwan – from attending. The Pacific Islands Forum leaders meeting will be held in Honiara in September. On 7 August, Solomon Islands prime minister Jeremiah Manele told parliament that no dialogue partners would be invited to the annual gathering. Countries outside the Pacific, known as “dialogue partners,” have attended the forum since 1989, to work…
Solomon Islands election: voters head to polls that could decide future of China security ties
Solomon Islanders have begun voting in a national election, the first since the prime minister, Manasseh Sogavare, struck a security pact with China in 2022 and drew the Pacific Islands nation closer to Beijing. The election outcome will be closely watched by the US, China and Australia for its potential impact on regional security, although Solomon Islands voters will be focused on struggling health services, education and inadequate roads, opposition parties said. Sogavare has pledged to further bolster relations with Beijing if he is re-elected, while his main challengers want…
As Solomon Islands’ election looms, China’s influence on the Pacific country draws scrutiny
China’s influence in the Pacific is being scrutinised as ally Solomon Islands prepares to hold elections this month, with two candidates indicating they would seek to review a controversial security pact between the two countries. Ties between China and Solomon Islands have deepened under prime minister Manasseh Sogavare, who is hoping to secure another term in the vote on 17 April. Solomon Islands, one of the poorest countries in the Pacific, relies heavily on partners including Australia and China for development aid and support. Beijing’s assistance ranges from infrastructure development,…
Pacific Islands Forum: China-US rivalry takes centre stage as Solomon Islands deepens ties with Beijing
Pacific island leaders are descending on the Cook Islands for the region’s most important annual political gathering, with the talks likely to be dominated by the climate crisis and growing US-China rivalry. The Pacific Islands Forum (Pif) is an 18-member grouping of 16 Pacific nations, including Australia and New Zealand, plus two French territories. This year, Solomon Islands – which has drawn closer to China since signing a security agreement in 2022 – is reported to be sending a delegation led by the foreign minister, Jeremiah Manele, not the prime…
How Aligning With China Changed Life in the Solomon Islands
In Honiara, they’ve just finished this brand-new stadium, and there’s not enough medicine in the main hospital in the country. There’s medicine shortages, so they’re turning people away from the hospital. You couldn’t ask for a more clear contrast in terms of the misallocation of priorities from the Chinese approach. And that really angers people. There is a really quite sad cynicism among many rural Solomon Islanders that nothing will ever change. They saw billions of dollars getting pumped into Honiara previously from Australia in terms of its peacekeeping efforts…
Biden Hosts Pacific Islands, With a Rising China in Mind
President Biden hosted the leaders of 18 Pacific Island nations at the White House on Monday, the second gathering of its kind in a year and the latest illustration of a regional competition for influence between the United States and China. Speaking to the leaders at the White House on Monday, Mr. Biden invoked America’s World War II campaign against Japan in the region, and, without naming China, implied that another kind of battle was now underway. “Like our forebears during World War II, we know that a great deal…
Biden pledges $40bn to Pacific islands as summit seeks to reassert influence
Joe Biden has offered $40bn in economic aid to Pacific islands at a White House meeting with leaders from the region aimed at bolstering US engagement in the face of growing a growing Chinese presence. The president also announced formal US recognition of two new island nations, the Cook Islands and Niue, at the start of the Pacific Islands Forum, two days of Washington meetings with leaders from the group’s 18 members. “The United States committed to ensuring an Indo-Pacific region that is free, open, prosperous and secure. We’re committed…