The dismissal of Daniel Suidani, elected from the main island of the archipelago, dismisses one of the main critical voices of China in a country previously close to Taiwan. Conversely, in Fiji, the Prime Minister distances himself from Beijing.
by Adrien le Gal
He was a grain of sand in the powerful Beijing influence mechanics in the South Pacific and paid his determination from his post. Daniel Suidani, Prime Minister of Malaita, the main island of the Solomon, had used all his powers of provincial leader to thwart China’s ambitions. In this he opposed this to the central government of this small archipelago which has not stopped, since its rupture with Taiwan, in September 2019, to give pods in Beijing. On February 7, Mr. Suidani was overthrown by a motion of censorship of his parliament. Ten days later, his successor, Martin Fin, said that he intended to authorize Chinese investments on the island, to which Mr. Suidani systematically opposed.
“For many in the region, Mr. Suidani was a symbol of resistance to aggressive Beijing encroachments, notes Cleo Paskal, Canadian researcher associated with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a Washington reflection group. His government , supported by the customary chiefs, had opposed a moratorium to the companies linked to China in his province. And he held out. Mr. Suidani lost his post not because the inhabitants of Malaita did not want him, but because that Beijing and his allies to the Solomon wanted to get rid of it. “
For this specialist, “this could well constitute a major turning point in the growing influence of China in the Pacific. If Daniel Suidani could be put aside, and that no great democratic nation reacts, the others Politicians of the region who resist China may wonder if they will not be the next. “The motion of censorship voted by the Malaita Parliament was remote -controlled, according to her, by China and her local allies. In October 2021, a text of the same nature had already been deposited, before being withdrawn against the backdrop of supporting demonstrations to Daniel Suidani.
The turnaround of Fiji
This Chinese advance is all the more remarkable since it comes after a major setback from Beijing in the region, with the arrival of business, in December 2022, of a new government on the Fiji archipelago. The country, historically close to China, had recognized Beijing at the expense of Taiwan in 1975.
On January 27, in the wake of his election, Prime Minister Fijien, Sitifni Rabuka, operated a radical strategic turnaround by removing his country from a police cooperation agreement binding it to Beijing since 2011. “Our democratic systems And judicial were too far away, so we come back to those who have systems comparable to ours, “he said, evoking without naming Australia and New Zealand. His government, anxious to diversify his supporters, also reaches out to India, and launched an invitation to his Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, to visit the country, which he has not done since 2014.
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