Solomon Islands Premier Daniel Suidani said no to China’s bribe
Solomons Premier Daniel Suidani refuses to accept aid from China and much to the chagrin of his central government still recognises the sovereignty of Taiwan.
It may seem an unlikely reaction from the leader of an impoverished province in the middle of the South Pacific but Daniel Suidani insists he is filled with an overwhelming sense of patriotism whenever he sees the words “Made in Taiwan” on products floating around his island home.
For the past year and a half, the first-term Premier of the Solomon Islands’ most populous province, Malaita, has been in open rebellion against his national government’s decision to sever its longstanding diplomatic ties with Taiwan, adopt a “one-China” foreign policy and cash in on Beijing’s political and economic ambitions in the region.
He refuses to accept any aid from the People’s Republic of China and — much to the chagrin of his country’s central government — continues to recognise the sovereignty of his “old friend” Taiwan and turn to it for help with medical supplies throughout the coronavirus pandemic.
The 51-year-old is now calling on Australia to up its involvement in his developing nation, saying he fears some of his political contemporaries in the Solomons Islands have already been compromised by China and his country’s democratic processes risk being corrupted by political interference from the communist regime.
“What we have seen with the PRC’s involvement in other countries in the region is that everything looks quite good at the start but at the end of the day, the countries eventually find it difficult to handle the problems that come with dealing with China,” he says.
“As far as Malaita goes, we don’t want any help from the PRC as we don’t want to have any constraints put on our independence.
“We don’t have the legal safeguards in place to protect us from the involvement of these people and they are not welcome here.”
The former primary school teacher says he had barely finished celebrating his first electoral victory in June 2019 when he was approached by agents acting on Beijing’s behalf and pressured to accept a SI$1m (AUD$165,000) bribe in exchange for switching Malaita’s diplomatic allegiances from Taiwan to China.
“I received the offer by phone and they told me where they were and said they wanted to meet with me to discuss it,” he says. “I knew I needed to take a strong stance against such an offer and I drove to where they were staying so I could tell them that I do not accept.
“When I arrived, I made up my mind that it is not right for me to even go up and see them. I called and said I was not for sale and they should keep their money.”
Mr Suidani says what troubles him most is that the illicit overture came from agents who had already infiltrated his national government. While he refused their offer, he suspects the same cannot be said for all his fellow premiers and national MPs.
Within two months of him being offered the bribe, the island nation announced it had ended its 36-year relationship with Taiwan and would no longer recognise it as an independent nation.
“I cannot comment on whether (China) has given money to other (politicians) but you have to think that if they came to me (with a bribe), then it is certainly possible they made approaches to other people too,” he says.
“In some cases, I suggest (the decision to switch allegiances) was made because the PRC had been involved in funding election campaigns and helping MPs retain seats, and now they had to fulfil on commitments they had made.
“It’s all very, very cloudy and it’s difficult to come to terms with what that means for the Solomon Islands if our very democracy has been interfered with.”
Mr Suidani’s defiant anti-China stance has reignited the deep-seated ethnic and cultural tensions within the Solomon Islands that gave way to a prolonged period of civil unrest between 1998 and 2003, while his critics in the country’s national cabinet have accused him of exploiting the issue to fuel simmering separatist sentiment within Malaita.
The claims have done little to temper his resolve: at the height of the pandemic last June, he issued a provocative public statement praising Taiwan for its support, adding that Malaita was in “a unique and a privileged situation to have been assisted by a country that has stood against the might of the Wuhan virus”.
Mr Suidani’s comments were immediately denounced by outraged officials in China’s embassy in the Solomon Islands capital, Honiara, and further condemned by the Solomon Islands Foreign Minister, Jeremiah Manele, who admonished him for referring to Taiwan “as a state rather than a province of the People’s Republic of China”.
The government was so furious it seized a shipment of medical supplies arriving in Malaita from Taiwan three days later, with Attorney-General John Muria Jr saying the cargo represented an “act of defiance of a government decision” and could be considered a breach of the Sedition Act.
The growing friction caused by Mr Suidani’s stand-off with the Solomon Islands’ central government is being closely monitored by bureaucrats in Canberra.
After 14 years on the ground heading up the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands, Australian soldiers wrapped up their peacekeeping role in the Pacific nation in June 2017, but Lowy Institute Pacific program director Jonathan Pryke says there are concerns China’s involvement could undo much of the progress made throughout the operation.
“One key driver of the breakdown of law and order which led to the RAMSI intervention was the inter-island rivalries, largely driven by frustrations around uneven distribution of benefits,” he says. “While RAMSI helped put the country back together, those tensions are still very present and simmer just under the surface in Solomon Islands — and it is very worrying that the swap from Taiwan to China is now playing into these domestic tensions.
“It would have been easier for Australia if the Solomon Islands maintained its alliance with Taiwan because we are so anxious about the kind of investments China is making and what they’re going to use that influence for.
“At the same time, we recognise Solomon Islands is a sovereign nation and can make their own decisions.”
For now, neither side is willing to cede ground. For months, Mr Suidani has talked of the possibility of calling a province-wide vote on whether Malaita should secede from the Solomon Islands, a move that has been laughed off as ridiculous and illegal by his political opponents.
Whatever happens, the Premier says one thing is certain: as long as he is in power, China’s interests will remain in exile on his island.
“This is our place and we will never share it with people who don’t share our values and principles of democracy and independence,” he says. “As long as the Malaita people still exist, we will continue to fight against China and anyone who threatens to take that independence away from us.”