HONIARA, Solomon Islands – Judging by the US and Australian reactions, China’s attempt to raise its profile in the Pacific is indeed frightening.
Secret negotiations between Beijing and the government of my homeland, the Solomon Islands, have led to speculation that this could lead to a Chinese military presence here. Our government has denied this. But Washington warned that these developments would set “a worrying precedent” that could destabilize the Pacific, and at least one Australian politician worried that the Solomons could become a “little Cuba off our coast.”
Like many of my fellow islanders, I am also uncomfortable – about the lack of transparency in our government’s dealings with China, about Beijing’s ultimate motives and the potential impact it can all have on our fragile institutions.
But the view from the front lines of this great power competition is more nuanced than in Washington or Canberra, and it points to an important lesson for the United States as it fights with China for influence across the Pacific: you have to show up. And the United States did not.
We get it. The Solomon Islands are small, remote and economically insignificant. But if all countries like us are dismissed as such, China will pick us up one by one with its promises of business projects and development aid.
We have identified with the West for decades, a legacy forged when the United States, Australia and their allies halted Japan’s imperial march during World War II at the Battle of Guadalcanal. But that was a long time ago. There is a creeping feeling today that we are being ignored, if not forgotten. So who can blame us if we open the door to new friends who can help with our needs?
And those needs are huge.
Forty-four years after independence, we are still struggling to build a nation. Despite rich natural resources, about 80 percent of our 700,000 citizens still live in hard-to-reach rural areas and exist on family-run land. Many still do not have access to running water, basic sanitation and electricity. Jobs are scarce, access to health care is limited, and large numbers of children are hampered by poor diets. Already prone to earthquakes, tsunamis and cyclones, we are facing ominous new threats due to climate change, including coral bleaching and rising sea levels that are slowly washing away islands.
We do not blame anyone for these problems, but as they point fingers at China and rebuke our leader, we want to ask Western leaders: Where have you been?
To be fair, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States provided much-needed assistance over the decades, and the U.S. Peace Corps arrived in 1971. But those volunteers were withdrawn 22 years ago during a period of violent political unrest. U.S. aid to the Solomon Islands, already dwarfed by Australia, flattened in the 2010s. My job as a journalist took me across these islands, and I saw little remaining legacy of Peace Corps works, or American aid in general. Few Solomon Islanders know much about our previous ties to the West – nearly 75 percent of our population is under the age of 35, and most are poorly educated.
Among the few frequent memories of the West come when an unexploded American or Japanese World War II bomb explodes and kills or maims villagers. I lost a cousin last year, a promising young college student who was killed at a braai with friends. This unseen threat also inhibits economic progress due to the risk of developing soil containing 80-year-old explosives just waiting to explode.
Australia and New Zealand were major donors, typically through utilities focused on strengthening our public institutions. But no matter how important these efforts are, they are largely invisible to young Solomon Islanders who need work or vocational training in things like carpentry or masonry to address a persistent shortage of skilled labor and to put food on the table. Overall, Australian aid has failed over the years.
China’s growing presence, on the other hand, has become impossible to miss in Honiara, the capital. Enterprises run by China – construction, hardware, fishing, transportation and other sectors – have quickly become part of the local economy since our government entered into diplomatic relations with Beijing in 2019.
This has meant serious long-term relations with China’s rival Taiwan, an unpopular move. But thoughts change slowly. Chinese construction companies are building a new wing that will significantly upgrade our main hospital, and a long-awaited stadium that will host the Pacific Games next year. China’s profile has risen across the Pacific.
While Solomon Islands trade with the United States is negligible, China is by far our largest trading partner. And it has not gone unnoticed here that China has taken significant measures to reduce carbon emissions, while American and Australian politicians have refused or, in the case of Australia, even highlighted climate issues in the Pacific.
Many of us are worried about the consequences of traveling to China, and continued suspicion has contributed to riots in Honiara in November.
Washington and Canberra now say we matter to them in the Pacific. They will have to support it with sustained action. Their war victims saved us long ago. But loyalty does not last forever. It must be earned. Small, fragile, but strategic countries like mine have no choice but to set our own course, with whatever friends we can find.