Australia and New Zealand should adopt a hands-off approach to the Solomon Islands and leave embattled Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare to deal with Beijing-linked bribery allegations and deep dissatisfaction with his rule, according to a South Pacific expert. Cleo Paskal, an associate fellow of the Asia-Pacific Programme at Chatham House, said last November’s intervention from a coalition of Australian, New Zealand, Fijian, and Papua New Guinean forces to the Solomons provided breathing space to the pro-Beijing leader, who she said, was being pushed to stand down. “Sogavare was losing his grip on power. His MPs were defecting, the police had gone to him to defuse the (protest) situation and recommended that he should consider stepping aside—not due to threats from the demonstrators—but just because he is incredibly unpopular across the country,” she told The Epoch Times. “The announcement that Australia was sending troops saved him. He could then turn to …