While most of the world’s attention is being drawn to the events unfolding in Ukraine, on the other side of the planet, a new struggle has begun for control of the Pacific Ocean.
The opening salvo was fired on September 16, 2021 when the United States, Australia, and the UK (together AUKUS, a significant player in the region) signed a security pact. This agreement saw Australia scrapping its current diesel-powered submarine building program with France to focus on building nuclear-powered submarines using technology provided by the United States, a move that was seen as an effort to counter China’s influence in the Pacific.
China reacted to the AUKUS deal with Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Zhao Lijian, saying it “seriously undermines regional peace and stability, and intensifies the arms race.”
According to Reuters, the country also began to step up its intrusion of Taiwan’s airspace by military jets as well as holding joint military drills with Russia in the Pacific. Unbeknownst to the world, however, China also began to hold secret talks with a small but important strategic archipelago nation situated 3,000 km away from Australia – the Solomon Islands.
China’s new deal with the Solomon Islands
After several months of negotiations, China signed a key pact with the Solomon Islands on April 20, 2022.
The Pacific nation’s Prime Minister, Manasseh Sogvare, said the new deal would “not undermine peace and harmony” in the region although experts in Australia, New Zealand, and the United States have voiced their concerns. According to the only available drafts of the agreement, China will attain the right to dock naval vessels in the Solomon Islands as well as have the ability to send military forces “to maintain social order,” a key clause for a government that has faced down several uprisings because of its pro-Chinese stance.
The negotiations leading up to the new deal between China and the Solomon Islands were shrouded in secrecy and only a handful of ministers close to Prime Minister Sogvare were made aware of their existence. After the pact was signed, several provincial governors took to social media to say that they had not been consulted on the matter. Christian Mespitu, the leader of the Western Province, said, “We only learned about this on social media, and we are quite concerned.”
Canberra and Washington react
The United States responded to the new China-Solomon Islands deal by saying that it had “significant concerns” about the potential presence of Chinese troops in the country and will “respond accordingly” without giving specific details. The United States also announced that it will reopen its embassy in the capital, Honiara, in a stated attempt to counter China’s growing influence. The US embassy in the Solomon Islands has been closed since 1993 as the result of cost-cutting measures by the Clinton administration.
In Australia, now in the run-up to a general election, the surprise announcement about the China-Solomon Islands pact was hailed by critics of Prime Minister Scott Morrison as Australia’s biggest diplomatic failure in the Pacific since World War II.
According to local media, polls are now showing that Scott Morrison and his Labor party have fallen behind the rival Liberal-National coalition specifically as a result of the Solomon Islands-China security agreement which PM Morrison has called a “red line in the sand” for Canberra, although he ruled out sending any Australian security forces to the Solomon Islands in the immediate future.
The Australian authorities did not comment on any possible aid cuts to the Solomon Islands. In 2018/2019, the total amount of Official Development Assistance sent to Honiara City by Canberra reached US$130 million which is more than half of the total US$230 million aid received by the country.
The Solomon Islands
Some 3,000 kilometers from Australia, the island archipelago of the Solomon Islands, with a population of little over 750,000, was seen by many as one of the quieter corners of the Pacific. But when Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare decided to reverse the country’s decades-long policy of recognizing Taiwan (the Republic of China), violent riots broke out in Honiara. Several businesses, predominately located in the capital’s Chinatown district, were also burned and looted.
The Solomon Islands were a British colony until World War II when they were the scene of several major battles between the Allies and Japan, most famously on the main island of Guadalcanal, now home to the country’s capital. After the war, the Solomon Islands were granted limited autonomy, not reaching full independence until 1978 when a pluralistic democratic government was formed. Between 1998 and 2003, wide-scale civil unrest broke out that saw fighting between ethnic groups on Guadalcanal and Malaita which was only brought to an end when Australia sent more than 2,200 police and military troops to quell the uprising.
Inter-Island tension
One of the sources of the tension between Malaita and Guadalcanal is the presence of some 20,000 ethnic Chinese businessmen in the capital (the largest overseas Chinese diaspora in the Pacific) who are seen as having an undue influence over the national government. In 2006, when Snyder Rini was elected as Prime Minister, riots broke out in Honiara’s Chinatown district amidst widespread rumors that Rini had taken bribes from Chinese business leaders. When Australian troops intervened once again, Prime Minister Rivi lost a vote of no confidence and Manasseh Sogavare was selected to replace him.
The Solomon Islands established diplomatic relations with Taiwan in 1983. Most countries around the world, including the United States, adhere to a “one China” policy that only includes official recognition of Beijing but the Solomon Islands welcomed the development aid and economic assistance offered by Taiwan and relations remained cordial until the 2006 riots in Honiara City.
China vs. Taiwan unrest
Subsequently, the issue of which “China” to recognize became a key domestic issue with the islanders of Guadalcanal generally supporting greater ties with the People’s Republic of China and the island of Malaita favoring maintaining good relations with Taiwan.
In June 2019, it was announced that the government of PM Manasseh Sogavare was in secret negotiations with Australia to cut ties with Taiwan. With Australia’s approval, the break between Taiwan and the Solomon Islands was made official later that year. However, the premier of Malaita province, who had opposed the move to recognize China, announced in 2020 that the island would begin accepting humanitarian aid from Taiwan.
The power struggle between the pro-China forces on Guadalcanal and the pro-Taiwan forces on some of the other islands that make up the Solomon Islands led to another outbreak of violence in November 2021 when, once again, the Chinatown district was burned and looted amidst accusations of undue political influence by the local pro-Beijing ethnic Chinese community.
