Commentary Last week, anti-government demonstrators in Honiara, the capital of the Solomon Islands, demanded the prime minister to step down—citing his and the government’s corruption and ties to communist China. After the police fired tear gas at the up until then peaceful demonstrators, chaos erupted. An outbuilding at the parliament caught fire, a police station was attacked, and mobs roamed the town. Over the next two days since the protests erupted on Nov. 24, much of Honiara’s Chinatown was burned and looted—though not for the first time. One “Chinese” shop, festooned with Taiwanese flags, was spared. Americans used to know about the Solomon Islands—and why they matter. The word “Guadalcanal” was enough. That’s where U.S. Marines and Japanese forces fought a long, bloody campaign in World War Two. But the U.S. government has barely paid attention to the Solomons for decades—even though they are as important now as they were …