On October 20 the verdict is due in a legally spurious case of unlawful assembly against Daniel Suidani and another pro-democracy leader Celsus Talifilu in the Solomon Islands.
Washington, D.C: Australia’s approach to China’s ongoing destruction of economies, societies and democracies in places like Solomon Islands looks a lot like the scene in the TV show, “Yes, Prime Minister”, in which the civil servants explain the “Standard Foreign Office response in a time of crisis”.
Stage One: say nothing is going to happen.
Stage Two: say something may be about to happen, but we should do nothing about it.
Stage Three: say that maybe we should do something about it, but there’s nothing we *can* do.
Stage Four: say maybe there was something we could have done, but it’s too late now.
Australia’s staged approach was on full display in 2019 when Solomons and Kiribati switched from Taiwan to China. First some Australians were telling American counterparts it wasn’t going to happen. Then, it might happen but it was under control. Then, something was happening but they couldn’t interfere in the internal affairs of another country. Then it was too late. Bye-bye, Taiwan, hello, Chinese embassy and all that’s hidden inside.
THE FOUR STAGES OF AUSTRALIA
This happens over and over. On October 26, 2021, The Sunday Guardian ran an article titled: CCP aggression could lead to violence in Solomon Islands: Hon. P. Kenilorea. It quoted the respected opposition leader describing the disruptions caused by Chinese political warfare in Solomons, and what happened when he warned his bigger neighbours (including Australia) about the dangers of the situation: “I keep repeating myself to certain high commissioners but I’m told ‘we don’t want to upset the apple cart,’ as it were. Also that they want to work with the government of the day.”
Stage Two and Three.
Almost exactly a month later, there were riots in the capital. Maybe there was something Australia could have done, but it was too late. Stage Four. Yes, Prime Minister prophesy fulfilled.
STAGE FIVE
It was at this point that it became clear that Canberra wasn’t satisfied with just the four stages. It added a Stage Five: if you want others to think you take concerns about China seriously, act like China.
I’m not joking.
After the riots ended, locals were cleaning up the town and there was pressure on the pro-Beijing Prime Minister, Manasseh Sogavare, to step down. It was at that point Australia decided to send in security forces. That move allowed Sogavare to tell parliamentary colleagues he had backing from Beijing and Canberra, and the pressure on him eased. He stayed in place. Australia helped to keep a Chinese proxy in place.
Also, letting in Australian security forces gave an opening for officially letting in Chinese security forces and it wasn’t long before Solomons signed a comprehensive security agreement with China.
Since then, Australia has done its bit to help (in Chinese efforts) to turn Solomons into a police state—for example with AUS$190 million in policing support. It’s worth noting the Solomon Islands’ Minister for Police, National Security and Correctional Service—who is key to overseeing Australian spending—set up a shell company in Singapore with a Chinese national and Sogavare’s son in 2024.
Australia says if they don’t help with policing, China will. But they are effectively doing it FOR China, because as long as the political leaders are under Chinese influence, whatever tools Australia gives them will effectively be in Chinese hands.
For example, those Solomons police that Australia is equipping and training are now working with Chinese police on a pilot project based on China’s Mao-era Fengqiao model. It is designed to, among other things, better enhance “population management”. This includes “household registration cards and population information cards, drawing community maps, and collecting fingerprints and palm prints”.
I guess someone in Canberra thinks there will be two police forces in Solomons, a “good one” trained by Australia that finds stolen bikes and helps old ladies cross the road, and a “bad one” that acts, like the Chinese “police” do, as an arm of state security. Because, if they don’t think that, then what are they thinking?
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR DEMOCRACY IN SOLOMONS?
You can see in the life of one man what China wants to do across the world. One of the most well-known pro-democracy leaders in the Pacific is Daniel Suidani. Suidani was premier of the most populous province in Solomons, Malaita province, when Solomons switched from Taiwan to China in 2019.
Having seen the damage caused by China-linked companies in other parts of Solomons, Suidani’s government, backed by the traditional chiefs, soon issued the “Auki Communiqué,” calling for a moratorium on CCP-linked businesses operating in the province. It also noted Malaitans recognize “freedom of religion as a fundamental right… therefore [the Malaitan provincial government] rejects the CCP and its formal systems based on atheist ideology.”
That was enough to mark Suidani as a key target for China and its proxies in Solomons. Since then, he has been subject to waves of political warfare and personal attacks.
When Suidani got sick and needed medical care outside the country (something he, as an honest politician, couldn’t afford), he was told the central government would pay, if he let in the Chinese. He said no. It was only because Prof M.D. Nalapat reached out to then President Tsai of Taiwan that he received the care he needed in Taiwan.
Chinese proxies then heavily funded the opposition in the provincial legislature. In spite of popular attempts to defend democracy, Suidani was eventually replaced as premier. Then the central government took away Suidani’s elected seat for not supporting China’s version of the One China policy.
In the 2024 elections, Suidani was overwhelmingly re-elected to his provincial seat and the pro-China candidate who replaced him as premier lost his seat. And Suidani won his case against the government for having taken away his seat in the first place.
But China doesn’t quit.
On October 20 the verdict is due in a legally spurious case of unlawful assembly against Daniel Suidani and another pro-democracy leader Celsus Talifilu. The case is classic lawfare, designed to demoralize, isolate and bankrupt the two leaders. And, if China has managed to gain enough control over the judiciary, it could even send two of the best-known democracy leaders in the region to jail—sending a chill throughout the country and the region.
There has been little coverage of the case, and what Australian coverage of Suidani there has been in the past often casts him as troublemaker with, for example, Australia Broadcasting Corporation writing: “Others are concerned Mr Suidani’s stance… will stoke long-held conflict in the country”.
Add to that Australia Prime Minister Anthony Albanese went to China for nearly a week in July to “discuss deepening trade and business ties” and to move “forward in stabilising relations”. Think Albanese wants to protect democracy leaders in Solomons from Chinese political warfare attacks if it means jeopardising Australian lobster sales to China?
Additionally, at least some of that Chinese bribery money going to corrupt leaders in Solomons (and elsewhere) is passing through Australian banks and real estate, giving Australia a way to help clean up corruption without “intervening” in another country. But, for some reason, no action there either.
In February 2021, Australia issued a statement stating, “Australia is gravely concerned by the accelerating erosion of democratic norms, undermining of the rule of law, and the often violent repression of fundamental freedoms around the world.”
Sounds good, right? But that was concern for Myanmar, Russia, Belarus, Hong Kong, Venezuela and Nicaragua. Not a word about Solomon Islands.
BOTTOM LINE?
If Australia was serious about being a force for good in Solomons and other Pacific Island countries—and so enhance Indo-Pacific security—it would go after corruption, give space in think-tanks to Pacific Islanders on the front lines of fighting China (who know more about how the CCP really operates in the region than almost anyone in Australian intelligence and foreign affairs), be vocal about victims of Chinese targeting, and use its aid money not to build up a police state but to do things like build up the health care system.
Currently, Suidani’s primary concerns is not for himself but for the lack of food for the sick in the hospital in Malaita.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs knows there are major issues with Australia’s role in the Pacific Islands. The situation is not getting better. If something is not done soon, everyone, except China, will suffer. “Yes, Prime Minister’s” stages may have been funny on TV, but in real life, they are deadly.
Cleo Paskal is Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and columnist with The Sunday Guardian.
