“The more things change, the more they remain the same,”

as the French say.

And indeed, there is a strong element of déjà vu in the recent riots that is seeing a disgruntled mob torching and razing Chinatown, Honiara for the second time in only the last 15 years.

The reasons are, once again, political – and although some would argue that the issues are purely local, Solomon Islands Prime Minister, Manasseh Sogavare, puts the blame squarely at the feet of “outside powers,” and not on domestic issues.

In a recent speech the Solomon Islands. Prime Minister said:

“…I don’t want to name names, we’ll leave it there, we know who they are.”

And we do – he’s putting the blame squarely on the shoulders of the western superpowers (including Taiwan) who oppose his 2019 ‘switch’ from the 36+ years of recognition of Taipei to Beijing.

The Switch

Sogavare’s switch would have made a lot of regional players extremely nervous over the increased influence of mainland China in the region…and it wasn’t the first time that Sogavare had seriously looked at making that switch.

In May 2006, just a month after the first riots (this century) to raze Honiara’s Chinatown, and only weeks after he was made Prime Minister (after the brief reign of Snyder Rini who’d resigned in the face of those riots), Sogavare had dispatched Julian Moti QC (who would be, controversially, appointed attorney-General of the Solomon Islands in 2007) to Melbourne for preliminary talks with Beijing with an intention of making the switch in their near future.

At that time. Moti maintained that he was followed through Melbourne on the way to these talks and that his briefcase suspiciously went missing for a day before (miraculously?) turning up.

The late Julian Moti was always convinced that “Big Brother” was watching him while he was in Melbourne and, in the Pacific, they don’t come any bigger than Australia.

The progress of this 2006/7 proposed ‘switch’ was eventually stymied by a ‘vote of no confidence’ in Sogavare and, by the end of 2007, Sogavare was no longer Prime Minister and Julian Moti had been deported and charged in Brisbane with sex offences. Sogavare’s successor was, Derek Sikua, who had never voiced any ambitions in the direction of Beijing.

Moti always maintained the charges were politically motivated – to turn Solomon Island’s attention away from Beijing.

Australia’s High Court eventually stayed the prosecution of Moti because of the abuse of process by Australian officials in his deportation. As part of a settlement, the Australian Government apologised to Moti.

Under those circumstances, it is not unreasonable to assume that the abuse of process was caused by the desperation of the Australian authorities to rid the Solomon Islands, not only of Sogavare, but also of his loyal lieutenant, sounding board and ideas man, Moti.

However, in 2019, it was ‘second time lucky’ and Sogavare achieved what he’d failed to do in 2007 – no doubt to the chagrin of concerned players. 

(Slightly) different motivations – same result

The aforementioned riots of 2006, were down to perceived interference by the Chinese in the immediately preceding elections where Snyder Rini was the unpopular recipient – the people’s displeasure aimed roundly at Chinatown and the Chinese as well as Rini who stepped down just days into his Prime Ministership. And it’s Chinatown they’ve targeted again.

The circumstances have changed, but not much.

This time, the riots are also China related – and if anyone has any doubts, I direct them to the report of happenings in Chinatown where a shop displaying the Taiwanese flag was passed over by the looters and left unscathed – but more than this, they have the added element of evoking the days of the ‘tensions’ – the years around the turn of the 21^st Century that pitted the province of Malaita against that of Guadalcanal in violent clashes. Old wounds have been reopened.

It has been mooted, that these 2021 riots have been fomented and fuelled by Malaitans who are against the central government in Guadalcanal, and, in particular, their recognition of Beijing. They want to stay with Taipei.

The Premier of Malaita, Daniel Suidani, has refused to transfer his allegiances (or those of his province) to Beijing and is still collecting Taipei aid for his Province along with other personal benefits (like his recent humanitarian medical treatment in Taipei – that Australia had, beforehand, quoted him in six figures to perform). 

The province has also been the recent recipient of US $25million in aid – a massive fifty times more than its usual allocation. What’s more, it is highly unusual for powerful nations to deal at a sub-national level.

That this is not payment for allegiance is drawing a long bow – although the allegation has been widely denied

In the stoush with Guadalcanal, Daniel Suidani has managed to hold onto the Premiership of Malaita, surviving a vote of no confidence in October orchestrated, Suidani believes, by the government in Guadalcanal– and has come back fighting – although he claims to have had  no involvement in the riots.

Malaita has a decades old secessionist movement and one Suidani has invigorated by mooting an independence vote for Malaita with the China issue at its centre.

Australia to the rescue

Sogavare has requested help from Australia to quell these recent riots just as the then Prime Minister, Sir Allan Kemakeza had also made a similar request in 2003 for Australia to send armed assistance to the Solomon Islands, that time to defuse the ongoing tensions and fighting and as a peace-keeping mission

Prime Minister Scott Morrison, this time, has been quick to respond positively. Some have mooted that his eagerness to help is fuelled by his desire to avoid any Chinese intervention to restore order – although Morrison has stated, categorically, that he has no political interest only a desire to help stop the violence.

Similarly, in 2006, it was mooted that it was Australia’s interests that were being served when RAMSI allegedly stood and watched as the Honiara riots progressed.Their alleged lack of response served to illustrate the need for the continued deployment of the RAMSI troops in the Solomon Islands to maintain law and order which was, demonstrably, a hopeless endeavour without them.

It has always been perceived to be important to Australia to maintain a position of dominance in the Solomon Islands and also the region.

It seems to me that the Solomon Islands has, yet again, become a pawn in someone else’s geopolitical strategy – with Solomon Islands authorities playing into their hands…hands that hold a cornucopia of riches that the impoverished Islands of Solomon and its people are finding irresistible.