Tag: Solomon Islands

What to Know About Australia’s Contest With China in the Pacific After Beijing Tested a Missile

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On the day that China announced that it had successfully fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile into the middle of the Pacific Ocean, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of Australia was in Suva, the capital of Fiji. Mr. Albanese was visiting the country on Monday to sign two long-sought security agreements with Fiji’s leader, Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka. A week earlier, he was smiling and shaking hands with the prime minister of Vanuatu, having finalized a treaty with that island nation. The following day, he was in the Solomon Islands, standing shoulder…

Why China Fired a Long-Range Missile Into the Pacific

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With one missile fired over the Pacific Ocean from a submarine lurking off China’s coast, the country’s leader, Xi Jinping, has proclaimed his determination to build a full suite of nuclear weapons, including sea-based missiles that have long been Beijing’s weak spot. The missile test on Monday came after China’s military has been battered for years by mass removals of commanders accused of corruption and disloyalty. But Chinese media declared that the test showed the country remained on track to create a full nuclear triad; that is, a range of…

Australia must engage with Solomon Islands with mutual respect. It’s about so much more than keeping Beijing at bay | Connor Graham

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When Matthew Wale won a parliamentary vote to become Solomon Islands’ prime minister last month, the questions came quickly: What does this mean for Beijing? Is this good news for Australia? When will the new PM tear up the 2022 security pact with China, sever ties with Beijing and declare Australia Solomon Islands’ best friend in perpetuity? This pervasive framing treats a change of government in Honiara primarily as a development in Australia’s competition with China – a mistake Canberra should not repeat when Wale arrives for talks with Anthony…

China Exports Surveillance

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When I first read about how China tracks its citizens with surveillance cameras and also ranks them according to a set of political and social criteria set by the Communist Party, it was impossible not to think of “1984” and Big Brother. Since then, China has become the world’s superpower of surveillance, much of it augmented by artificial intelligence. It’s Mao-era policing on steroids. And as my colleagues David Pierson and Berry Wang write, that model of policing is now being exported to authoritarian states and weak democracies across the…

A Quiet Pacific Village Becomes China’s Security Testing Ground

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The first sign that something unusual was unfolding in the Solomon Islands was when the Chinese police showed up at Fighter One, a quiet village ringed with banana trees. The Chinese officers gathered villagers on a grassy patch and proposed a system they said would help keep them safe. They suggested that the residents fill out cards providing the names, addresses and dates of birth for each household member. They recommended collecting fingerprints and palm prints — both highly unusual and legally dubious in a country lacking laws governing personal…

Former China critic Matthew Wale elected Solomon Islands prime minister

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Solomon Islands parliament on Friday elected opposition leader Matthew Wale as prime minister, after incumbent Jeremiah Manele was ousted from power last week in a no-confidence vote. Wale defeated Peter Shanel Agovaka by 26 votes to 22 in a ballot of the country’s members of parliament, governor general David Tiva Kapu, told a news conference. Opposition leader since 2019, when Solomons switched ties from Taiwan to China, Wale has campaigned for greater government transparency in dealings with foreign mining and logging businesses. The former accountant hails from Malaita, the most…

‘A free limo is hard to turn away’: how car diplomacy turbo charges politics in the Pacific

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At a ceremony in January, a shiny black luxury sedan rolled into the leafy, rain-soaked ground of Fiji’s state house. It was a gift from China to the Pacific nation’s president, Ratu Naiqama Lalabalavu, who thanked Beijing for the “beautiful limousine”. The vehicle given was a Hongqi or “Red Flag” car, the same brand used by China’s leader, Xi Jinping, during military parades. It is an example of China’s “prestige diplomacy”, says Yun Sun, director of the China Program at the US-based Stimson Center. “This is more symbolic than substantive,”…

‘Hard to say who’s winning’: China and Australia battle for influence in Solomon Islands policing

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At a church hall on the outskirts of Honiara, dozens of community leaders gathered for a training session organised by the Chinese police, alongside local Solomon Islands officers. Among them is Ben Angoa, who has enthusiastically embraced the training, as well as other things China has provided: solar lighting, sewing machines, soccer balls, and even noodle-making lessons. “We really love China,” he says. The sessions – along with the provision of blue uniforms, flashlights and fleets of police cars – are among the many ways Beijing supports Solomon Islands policing.…

China, climate crisis and Cop31: five takeaways from the Pacific Islands Forum

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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,…

Albanese went to Vanuatu to sign a $500m agreement – but leaves empty-handed thanks to concerns about China

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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…