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Solomon Islands: Why Are People Protesting? - The New York Times
Nov 25, 2021 2 mins, 22 secs

MELBOURNE, Australia — Protests rocked the capital of the Solomon Islands on Thursday for the second straight day as people clashed with the police and demanded that Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare resign.

Protesters were met by police tear gas and rubber bullets on Wednesday after they stormed the national Parliament in the capital, Honiara, and set a police station and buildings in Chinatown on fire, the authorities said.

Experts say discontent has simmered for decades between the two islands, mainly over a perceived unequal distribution of resources and a lack of economic support that has left Malaita one of the least-developed provinces in the island nation.

There has also been lingering dissatisfaction in Malaita over the central government’s decision in 2019 to switch diplomatic allegiances to Beijing from Taipei, Taiwan, a self-governing island that China claims as its territory.

The Solomon Islands is an archipelago made up of nearly a thousand islands in the Pacific, about 1,000 miles northeast of Australia.

The island nation found itself in a heightened geopolitical tug of war because of the 2019 decision, which dealt a blow both to Taipei’s global standing and to Washington’s regional diplomacy.

The United States sees the Solomon Islands, and other Pacific nations, as crucial in preventing China from asserting influence in the region.

In 2019, a Chinese company signed an agreement to lease one of the islands, but the agreement was subsequently ruled illegal by the attorney general of the Solomon Islands.

Some experts draw a straight line from the 2019 decision to this week’s unrest.

Behind the riots was “quite a lot of unhappiness about that switch,” said Sinclair Dinnen, an associate professor at the Australian National University’s Department of Pacific Affairs.

Malaita’s premier, Daniel Suidani, has been a vocal critic of that decision by the prime minister, and Malaita continues to maintain a relationship with and receive support from Taiwan — in contravention to the central government’s position, said Mihai Sora, a research fellow at the Lowy Institute and a former Australian diplomat stationed in the Solomon Islands.

With the United States providing Malaita with direct foreign aid while China supports the central government, existing fractures in the nation have deepened, he said.

The Chinese Embassy in Honiara said in a statement posted on social media Wednesday that it had “asked the Solomon Islands to take all necessary measures to strengthen the protection of Chinese businesses and people.” It also advised Chinese residents in “high-risk areas” to shut their businesses and hire security guards.

On Thursday afternoon, Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia announced that his country would send more than 100 police officers and military forces to the Solomon Islands to “provide stability and security.” Twenty-three police officers would arrive immediately (up to 50 more may make the trip), and 43 military personnel would follow.

Elizabeth Osifelo contributed reporting from Honiara, Solomon Islands

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