LONDON, May 16 (IPS) – There is a change at the top of the Solomon Islands. But civil society will be watching closely to see whether this will cause hostile governments to start doing things differently.
Jeremiah Manele is the new prime minister who emerged through negotiations following April’s general elections. He is a member of the Uri party led by outgoing four-term Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare. The party went first, winning 15 of the 50 constituencies, but several incumbent lawmakers who had defended it lost their seats in parliament, and Sogavare narrowly won his seat. A weakened Sogavare stood aside to allow Manele to win as the consensus candidate of the post-election coalition his party put together.
China in the spotlight
Voters had to wait to have their say. The election was originally scheduled to be held in 2023, but was postponed by the government. That same year, it held elections, claimed it could not afford to host the Pacific Games, and temporarily suspended constitutional provisions through a vote in parliament. The opposition has accused Sogavare of seizing power and questioned his commitment to democracy.
Political debate in recent years has been dominated by the government’s relationship with China, the main funder of the 2023 Pacific Games. Sogavare turned to China shortly after becoming prime minister for the fourth time in 2019. Until then, the Solomon Islands was one of the few countries that still recognized Taiwan instead of China. The move was controversial and was made without any consultation after an election that was not in question.
Sogavare then signed a series of agreements with China, including a highly secret security cooperation agreement. Concerns have been raised in civil society that Solomon Islands police could be trained in the same repressive techniques used in China, and that Chinese security forces could be deployed in the event of unrest. The country has experienced several conflicts, including ethnic unrest, violent protests initiated by young unemployed people, and violent protests targeting some people of Chinese descent. These conflicts followed the controversial 2019 election that returned Sogavare to power, and have surged again in 2021 over the government’s relations with China. Sogavare blamed ‘foreign forces’ for the unrest in 2021.
China is conducting extensive economic diplomacy efforts to encourage countries to switch allegiances and has developed a deep interest in Pacific island nations long ignored by Western powers. The efforts are paying off, with Kiribati and Nauru also abandoning Taiwan in recent years. The Pacific archipelago occupies a vast maritime territory, and China’s main foreign policy goal is to dismantle the archipelago that surrounds the Pacific archipelago and is seen as limiting its reach. It has long been suspected of coveting a naval base in the Solomon Islands.
Moreover, despite their small populations, each country has equal voting rights in the United Nations, and the more allies China has, the more it can protect itself from criticism for its numerous human rights abuses.
China not only supported the cost of the Olympics. It has been accused of providing direct funding to pro-government lawmakers and of blatantly trying to bribe politicians. Daniel Suidani, a vocal opponent of any deal with China, claims he was bribed to change his position. Suidani served as Malaita provincial premier until 2023, when he was ousted in a no-confidence vote due to apparent interference by the central government. Police used tear gas against protesters supporting him.
China’s attempts to exert influence extend to the media. Last year, the Solomon Star newspaper was reported to have received financial support from the Chinese government in exchange for agreeing to publish pro-China content.
Disinformation favorable to China was also spread during the campaign. Russia’s state-run news agency falsely reported that the U.S. government was planning a so-called “electoral coup,” a lie that was also repeated by the Chinese Communist Party’s Global Times newspaper. During the campaign, Sogavare doubled his support for China, lauding China’s political system and suggesting that democracy could open the door to same-sex marriage, which he described as incompatible with Chinese values.
At the same time that China’s media influence has grown, the Solomon Islands government has developed a reputation for attacking press freedom. It took full control of the public broadcaster, the Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation, gave it the power to appoint its own board of directors, and attempted to investigate all news and current affairs programming, which was halted after a backlash. After Australia’s public broadcaster investigated its ties with China, the government accused the media of spreading “anti-China sentiment” and threatened to ban foreign journalists who report stories it deems “disrespectful.”
Following the criticism, the government threatened to investigate civil society and accused it of receiving funds fraudulently. It is clear that the flip side of closer relations with China is growing hostility to dissent.
It is expected
China was not the only issue in the campaign, with many voters highlighting everyday concerns such as the cost of living, the state of education, health care and roads, and the economy. Some have criticized politicians for spending too much time talking about foreign policy. And we will assess how much progress the new government has made on these domestic issues.
The good news is that the vote appears to have been competitive and so far there has been no repeat of the post-election violence seen after the 2019 vote. This is definitely a positive foundation.
But Sogavare is not leaving politics to take up a new position as finance minister. Meanwhile, Manele, the former government’s foreign minister and considered another pro-Beijing figure, is unlikely to suggest a new foreign policy direction. But there is hope, at least in civil society, that he will be a less polarizing and more conciliatory politician than Sogavare. The first test will be how the new government handles its relationship with civil society and the media. The government must prove that it is not in China’s pocket by respecting civil liberties.
Andrew Fermin He is Editor-in-Chief of CIVICUS, co-director and author of CIVICUS Lens, and co-author of the State of Civil Society report.
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© Interpress Service (2024) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Interpress Service
