The prime minister of the Solomon Islands complained on Friday that his country had been subjected to “a barrage of unwarranted and misplaced criticisms, misinformation, and intimidation” since preferencing diplomatic relations with China over Taiwan in 2019.
In an address to the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Manasseh Damukana Sogavare said the Solomons had been “unfairly targeted” and “vilified” in the media. He said such treatment “threatens our democracy and sovereignty.”
The Solomons formerly had diplomatic relations with self-governed Taiwan, but switched recognition to Beijing in 2019. Sogavare, who has been unpopular among a significant portion of islanders who protested and rioted against the decision in November last year, has since appeared to move ever closer into China’s orbit, to the alarm of the other countries in the region concerned about Beijing’s increasing aggression in the South China Sea and now the South Pacific….