HONIARA (CU)_While several Pacific nations express their concern over the security pact between Beijing and Honiara, ordinary people in the Solomon Islands also remain worried about being caught in a conflict between China and the US. In November last year, a state of unrest unfolded in the Pacific archipelago, with thousands of protestors carrying out riots in the capital city, venting their fury over the government, and its close ties with China. Following the incidents, Beijing announced that the government of the Solomon Islands had accepted its offer to provide anti-riot training and send equipment to the country.
Accordingly, a team of police officers from China began their work in the Pacific islands in late-February strengthening relations between the two countries even further. Now a key provincial official in the country is expressing his concern that Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare may use Chinese police officers and military personnel to hold on to power for years to come.
According to Celsus Irokwato Talifilu, an adviser to Malaita province premier Daniel Suidani, while it is “fair” that the US, Australia and other regional partners focus their attention on a potential Chinese military base in the country, the major fear among the members of the public is the erosion of democracy. “My main fear is [Chinese military or police personnel] put [Sogavare] in power for a long time,” he said. “People say we are a democratic country, of course it is. But when you have a force bigger than anyone else in the Solomons, it will be easy for him to use that force to support him and his ministers or those who are in government to ensure they come back at the next elections.”
His remarks come amid concerns expressed by Australia’s spy chief that under the new security pact, Chinese police deployed in the archipelago could use “ruthless” techniques that were previously used to abate anti-government protests in Hong Kong. “In such a fragile, volatile country Chinese policing techniques and tactics that we’ve seen deployed so ruthlessly in Hong Kong, for example, are completely inconsistent with the Pacific way of resolving issues and could incite further instability and violence in the Solomon Islands,” Andrew Shearer, the director general of the Office of National Intelligence in Canberra, said.
