Solomon Islands unrest: Three bodies found in burnt-out building in Chinatown district
Three charred bodies have been discovered in a burnt-out building as Chinese properties are being burned and looted in the Pacific.
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Chinese properties are being smashed, burned and looted in the Solomon Islands, as Australia sends troops in to quell a rising tide of anger in the Pacific island nation that has been divided over its relationship with the superpower.
Scott Morrison announced the deployment of 73 Australian Federal Police and 43 Australian Defence Force personnel to the country late on Thursday after a desperate plea from the nation’s embattled Prime Minister, Manasseh Sogavare.
The nation has had two days of chaos, with rioting and looting in the capital, Honiara, and three bodies have now been discovered in a burnt-out building - the first reported deaths of the unrest - Solomon Islands police say.
The charred bodies were discovered in a store in the Chinatown district on Friday night
“Three of them were in the same room with a cash box and money on the floor,” security guard, Eddie Soa said.
He added that the bodies were very badly burnt and (they) couldn’t tell if they were Chinese people or locals.
China’s state media has expressed grave concerns about the unrest, saying the Chinatown district of the nation’s capital, Honiara, has been a particular target of rioters and that Chinese residents in the city are now desperate to leave.
Tan Jingquan, secretary of the Solomon Islands Chinese Association, told the Global Times that more than 100 shops owned by Chinese nationals have been ruined, and all are feeling “anxious and afraid right now”.
Aftermath of #Chinatown burning. Video by PS, Ethel Frances 😪 pic.twitter.com/p4YuoutzRA
— Georgina Kekea (@ginakekea) November 25, 2021
Experts believe the tensions have been flared by a rivalry between the islands of Malaita, the country’s most populous island, and Guadalcanal which are both part of the Solomons Islands.
Monica Verma, an international relations expert at the South Asian University, said Guadalcanal is home to the nation’s government which China has allegedly “bribed” to break ties with Taiwan. Malaita, meanwhile, receives aid from United States and Taiwan.
“Malaita people are angry because they are the poorest, most underdeveloped province,” Ms Verma said. “Their leader Daniel Suidani considers China as evil and has refused any Chinese interference in Malaita.”
Tensions have been simmering between the two islands since the national government suddenly switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to China in 2019.
The Malaita province Premier, Mr Suidani, blasted the move saying the Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare had been offered a bribe to support the switch, which Mr Sogavare denied.
Mr Suidani’s rhetoric has become increasingly anti-Chinese ever since, saying Malaita would never engage with Beijing and terminating licences of businesses owned by ethnic Chinese.
He has also defiantly maintained contact with the Taiwan authorities. As a result the province continues to receive outsized aid from Taipei and Washington.
Mr Suidani has accused Mr Sogavare of being in Beijing’s pocket, alleging he had “elevated the interest of foreigners above those of Solomon Islanders”.
“People are not blind to this and do not want to be cheated anymore,” he said
Tensions escalated again in May when Mr Suidani sought medical treatment in Taiwan, a trip the government said was “unauthorised”.
Nation drifting to ‘self-destruction’
Experts have also said the explosion in tensions this week is not just about relations with China and that it had been brewing for some time.
They say the unrest has been sparked by pandemic-fuelled economic frustrations and a long-running rivalry between residents of the Malaita and the Guadalcanal, that predates the infamous Beijing decision in 2019.
The archipelago nation of around 700,000 people has for decades been beset by ethnic and political tensions.
In the late 1990s, Guadalcanal militants launched attacks on settlers, particularly targeting those from Malaita, and for five years unrest plagued the country.
The so-called “Tensions” only eased with the deployment of an Australian-led peacekeeping mission – named the Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands.
Dr Transform Aqorau, an expert in Pacific island relations, said the Solomon Islands was now “drifting to self-destruction”.
In a piece for the Devpolicy Blog, he said that Malaysian, Filipino, and Chinese loggers and mining companies control the resources and the political processes.
“People might elect our members of parliament, but it is the logging companies, mining companies and other largely Asian-owned companies that underwrite the formation of government, influence the election of the Prime Minister, and keep ministers and government supporters under control after the elections,” he wrote.
“In return, if they want anything, or need special favours, they go directly to ministers and even the Prime Minister.”
He said this meant that a “sense of alienation, disempowerment and neglect” has been building for some time.
“It is one of the most aid dependent countries in the world,” he wrote. “Significant donor support is given to its health and education sector. Yet, its ministers and senior government officials treat its people poorly, and allow them to be exploited by loggers and miners.”
Mihai Sora, an expert on the Pacific at Australia’s Lowy Institute, said the flare-up over China and the effect of the pandemic were adding further fuel to the tensions.
“The actions of these great powers – while they curry favour with individual political actors – have a destabilising effect on what is already a fragile and vulnerable country,” he told AFP.
“Then of course the contemporary context is one of extended economic hardship due to Covid restrictions, a Covid state of emergency.
“The health and economic impacts of Covid have only added to the pressures that any developing country was facing before the pandemic hit.”
Aussie troops arrive
Australian peacekeepers arrived in riot-torn Honiara overnight, securing critical infrastructure amid a “very volatile” situation after days of anti-government protests.
The vanguard of Australia’s snap deployment arrived less than a day after Mr Sogavare appealed for help quelling violent unrest that threatened to topple his government.
After making the request, Mr Sogavare said the Solomons had been “brought to its knees” by the rioting, which saw much of Honiara’s Chinatown district torched as demonstrators demanded his resignation.
Canberra’s Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews said the Australian mission, comprised of about 100 police and military personnel, was intended to restore law and order.
“Twenty-three Australian Federal Police were deployed immediately yesterday, they are already on the ground in Honiara, more will be deployed today, about another 50,” she told Sky News.
“The situation is very volatile there. At the moment we know that the rioting has escalated over the last couple of days,” she added.
The latest bout of unrest began on Wednesday when thousands of protesters besieged parliament, setting fire to an outbuilding and calling for Mr Sogavare to be ousted.
Since then the demonstrations have descended into a violent free-for-all, with gangs of stick-wielding youths rampaging through the capital, stripping stores of goods and clashing with police.
By late Thursday thousands of looters openly defied police lockdown orders, running through the streets carrying boxes, crates and bulging sacks of goods as flames crackled around them and plumes of thick black smoke billowed high above the city.
Images published on social media showed buildings engulfed in flames, shopfronts smouldering and corrugated roofs twisted and collapsed in the capital.
Debris, including trash and tree branches, was strewn across the streets. Banks, schools, police stations, offices and Chinese-owned businesses were among the buildings reportedly torched.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the latest Australian deployment was expected to last “a matter of weeks”, unlike Canberra’s previous peacekeeping mission, which ran from 2003 to 2017 and cost billions of dollars.
“It is not the Australian government’s intention in any way to intervene in the internal affairs of the Solomon Islands, that is for them to resolve,” he said. “Our purpose here is to provide stability and security.”
– With AFP
Originally published as Solomon Islands unrest: Three bodies found in burnt-out building in Chinatown district
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