The White House has said it is disappointed the Solomon Islands prime minister, Manasseh Sogavare, will not attend a Pacific Islands summit with Joe Biden next week. The US president will host a second summit with leaders of the Pacific Islands Forum at the White House on Monday as part of his efforts to step up engagement with a region where the US is in a battle for influence with China. “We are disappointed that PM Sogavare of the Solomons does not plan to attend,” a Biden Administration official said.…
Tag: Solomon Islands
China ‘gifts’ and cost concerns: Pacific Games stir controversy in Solomon Islands
Luke Haga has spent the past two years getting ready for the race of his life. Haga, a sprinter, is preparing for the Pacific Games which will be held in his home of Solomon Islands in November. “It’s a time for sports, fun, and to celebrate our togetherness, ” says the 23-year-old, who is training for his events in China. Held every four years, athletes from 24 Pacific Island countries will compete in the Olympic-style tournament. While many share Haga’s excitement, the Games have also attracted controversy, primarily over the…
Fiji prime minister warns against US and China attempts to ‘polarise’ Pacific
The Pacific islands should be a “zone of peace”, Fiji’s prime minister, Sitiveni Rabuka, has said, adding that he hopes a rivalry between the US and China in the strategic region does not develop into a military conflict. Rabuka was speaking after attending a summit meeting of several Pacific island leaders, where climate change and regional security dominated the agenda. The leaders of Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji and New Caledonia’s ruling FLNKS party met in Vanuatu on Thursday. The Melanesian Spearhead Group leaders have yet to publicly…
Solomon Islands newspaper pledged to promote ‘truth about China’s generosity’ in return for funding
Local media in Solomon Islands have been accused of compromising their independence by entering into agreements with Chinese news organisations and accepting thousands of dollars’ worth of equipment from the Chinese embassy. Since the Solomon Islands government signed a high-profile security agreement with China in March 2022, some newspapers in the Pacific country have received cars, cameras, phones and printing machinery that costs thousands of dollars from the Chinese government, via its local embassy, according to local journalists. Some have raised concern about the gifts and the continued close dialogue…
China to ‘fill the gap’ in Solomon Islands budget as PM blasts ‘unneighbourly’ Australia and US
China will “fill the gap” in Solomon Islands’ troubled budget, after Australia and other traditional development partners suddenly withdrew millions of dollars in promised funding, the country’s prime minister has claimed. While the Albanese government immediately denied the claim, Manasseh Sogavare again condemned Australia and the US for criticising his country’s policing pact with China, saying while Australian and other Pacific police forces were its “partner of choice”, China was a welcomed additional security ally. “It takes only nine hours’ flight from China to land forces here,” he said. The…
Solomon Islands denies policing deal with China poses ‘threat’ to Pacific security
Solomon Islands has said that its policing pact with China poses no “threat” to the Pacific, rebuking western powers that raised fears the deal could inflame regional tensions. Prime minister Manasseh Sogavare inked a raft of deals during a trip to China this week, including an agreement allowing Beijing to extend its police presence in the developing Pacific nation until 2025. The US, Australia and New Zealand have expressed unease about the policing “implementation plan”, urging Beijing to soothe concerns by releasing more details. In response, the Solomon Islands government…
Solomon Islands signs controversial policing pact with China
China and Solomon Islands have signed a deal on police cooperation as part of an upgrade of their relations to a “comprehensive strategic partnership”, four years after the Pacific country switched ties from Taiwan to Beijing. The police cooperation pact was among nine deals signed as the prime minister of Solomon Islands, Manasseh Sogavare, met with the Chinese premier, Li Qiang, in Beijing, underlining the Solmons’ foreign policy shift. Sogavare arrived in China on Sunday for his first visit since the two countries struck a security pact in 2022 to…
US opens embassy in Solomon Islands after 30-year absence to counter China
The United States has opened an embassy in Solomon Islands after a 30-year absence as it seeks to boost diplomatic relations in the Pacific as a counter to China. The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, announced the news late on Wednesday, saying that “more than any other part of the world, the Indo-Pacific region – including the Pacific Islands – will shape the world’s trajectory in the 21st century”. The top US diplomat announced plans to open a diplomatic mission in the Pacific island nation during a visit to…
Your Tuesday Briefing: California Mourns, as Death Toll Rises
The death toll rises in a mass shooting Another victim of the recent mass shooting in a thriving Chinese American suburb of Los Angeles died at a hospital yesterday, bringing the death toll to 11. Investigators continued to seek the gunman’s motive in the attack, which took place during a Lunar New Year celebration in Monterey Park. Here are updates. The victims of the massacre were in their 50s, 60s and 70s. Officials have identified two victims, My Nhan and Lilan Li, and details about the others are still emerging.…
China’s Mad Dash Into a Strategic Island Nation Breeds Resentment
Down a dirt road outside the Solomon Islands’ capital city, past Chinese construction projects and shops where Chinese merchants sell snacks, a tribal chief tried to explain what it feels like to have a rising superpower suddenly take an interest in a poor, forgotten place desperate for development. “At first,” said the chief, Peter Kosemu, 50, as he sat in the shade on Guadalcanal, the largest of the Solomon Islands, “most people just wanted to see what was going on.” He and many others have watched China rush headlong into…