Under the watchful eye of the United States and China, the candidate close to Beijing, Jeremiah Manele, has obtained the position of prime minister of the Parliament of the Solomon Islands after elections with a clear referendum tone. The elections, described by analysts as “perhaps the most important for [the] Solomon Islands since independence”, have been held after the previous Prime Minister of the Solomons, Manasseh Sogavare, announced last Monday that he would not seek a new mandate. The former prime minister argued against attacks against him and his family, and endorsed Manele, his former foreign minister, as his successor.
The archipelago has become a strategic enclave in the battle between China and the United States in the Pacific. The newly elected Prime Minister Manele has expressed on several occasions his inclination towards cooperation with China, showing himself, during the electoral campaign, in favor of the security pact signed with Beijing by the outgoing president, negotiated in 2022 in an opaque manner. This pact has raised the stakes between the United States and the Asian giant to increase their influence in the Pacific region, where for decades actions have been demanded to address the climate crisis and where an increase in international cooperation is currently observed.
In the 1970s, the Solomon Islands joined the Commonwealth and have maintained a historic relationship with Australia, located about 1,660 kilometers away. However, in 2019, during Sogavare’s presidency and after three decades of cooperation with the Western world, the country broke diplomatic relations with Taiwan, choosing to move closer to Beijing. There was speculation about the possibility that new relations with China would allow the Asian country to establish a Chinese naval base in the Pacific region, which the Australian Prime Minister considered a “red line”, although these rumors were dismissed by Sogavare.
Sogavare’s turn toward China in 2019 partly led to a wave of anti-government riots that swept through Honiara’s Chinatown district. Violence returned in 2021 when angry mobs attempted to storm parliament, set fire to Chinatown, and attempted to level Sogavare’s home.
The population of the archipelago has been reluctant to bring their government closer to the Chinese leaders, despite the considerable economic aid provided by Beijing. In 2023, China donated a $100 million sports complex used to host the Pacific Games and made a similarly sized loan to build a national broadband network led by Chinese tech giant Huawei. In addition, Chinese companies based in the Pacific Islands have built roads and more infrastructure in the Solomon Islands.
Prime Minister-elect Manele has followed the same line as his predecessor during the pre-campaign, pledging to deepen ties with Beijing as the provider of the country’s future prosperity, while making clear his distaste for his traditional partners Australia and the United States. Joined.
