Avoiding a Pacific Lost Decade: Financing the Pacific's COVID-19 Recovery
The Pacific's post-pandemic economic revival will rely on an internationalmulti-year recovery package of grants and loans led by Australia
Tuesday 26 Jan 2021 | 06:55 | SYDNEY
What's happening on 
Solomon Islands gets a lesson in Chinese diplomacy
China’s efforts to marginalise Taiwan and promote its “One China” policy has been a challenge for many countries. Some have diplomatic relations with Beijing while continuing to pursue trade and cultural links with Taiwan.
The US can do this because it is a global power. This was clearly
Constitutional questions over Solomon Islands’ coronavirus crackdown
On 25 March, following a government decision, the Solomon Islands Governor General Sir David Vunagi, declared a state of public emergency in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Solomon Islands remains one of a few countries worldwide that is still without a reported case of the novel coronavirus. The
China has Honiara onside but hasn’t yet won over Solomon Islands
In September, the Solomon Islands government led by Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare severed its 36-year diplomatic relations with the Republic of China (Taiwan) and switched to the People’s Republic of China (China). In the months since, dissenting voices have kept bubbling up. Most prominently,
Rumblings along the federal fault line in Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands made international headlines last week, with the New York Times running a story, “China is leasing an entire Pacific island. Its residents are shocked”.
While the last part of the headline is not in question, the first part of the headline is doubtful. Reading through the four
China-Taiwan: Solomon Islands’ switch and a “new normal”
“A vacuum simply offers opportunities for others to fill it up.”
That observation was offered by Vanuatu Member of Parliament Johnny Koanapo in a recent Facebook post. The Opposition MP is a former Director General of Foreign Affairs, and has been instrumental in several bilateral and
By Dan McGarry
The wisdom of Solomons: Taiwan and China’s Pacific power play
This article is based on the Little Red Podcast episode “Should I Stay or Should I Go Now? Inside the Solomons’ Big Switch.”
Taiwan’s relations with Solomon Islands started by chance, and now hang on chance. Within the next few weeks, the island nation will decide on whether to switch
By Graeme Smith
A chance to “step up” to support girls’ education in Solomon Islands
A group of adolescent girls in Solomon Islands huddle around a piece of butcher’s paper. They are considering their answers to a question put to them as part of a research project: What makes it so hard for girls and young women in Solomon Islands to finish high school?
The spur for the research
Stepping out – and up – in the hot mess of the Pacific
Scott and Jenny Morrison stepped out into the humidity of Solomon Islands historic Henderson airport earlier this week to a legacy Pacific welcome, a mix of indigenous traditions and colonial pomp.
Being decked in finely wrought shell necklaces by young island maidens before inspecting the tiny if
The surprising sameness of the Solomons elections
Solomon Islands went to the polls on 3 April for their 10th general election since independence in 1978. The turnover of incumbent politicians in Solomon Islands elections is usually high, with around half of all sitting MPs losing their seats in each election. The 2014 general election, however,
By Kerryn Baker
Diplomatic switch? Solomon Islands relations with Taiwan or China
The forthcoming national elections in Solomon Islands in April have once again raised the issue of diplomatic relations between the Republic of China (hereafter “Taiwan”) and Solomon Islands. Prime Minister Rick Hou’s political party has said it will review Solomon Islands diplomatic relations
The 2019 Solomon Islands election: how will women fare?
In terms of women’s representation in politics, Solomon Islands lags behind much of the world. In April, Solomon Islands will hold the first general election since the departure of the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI). There is one incumbent female MP. This means Solomon
By Kerryn Baker
Will Solomon Islands abandon Taiwan?
Over the last couple of years Taiwan has been steadily haemorrhaging diplomatic allies. Countries from Africa, Central America and the Caribbean have switched allegiance to Beijing, leaving just 17 countries maintaining formal relations with Taipei. The largest bloc of such countries is in the
By James Batley
Speech by the Hon Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi on Pacific perspectives on the new geostrategic landscape
The Hon Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, Prime Minister of Samoa, delivered this address at the Lowy Institute in Sydney on Thursday, 30 August 2018
The RAMSI legacy for Pacific policing
Despite the extensive coverage afforded most aspects of the Australian-led Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI), relatively little attention has been paid to the large number of Pacific Islands police who served throughout the 14-year deployment.
RAMSI retained high levels of
The hidden epidemic in the shanty towns of Honiara
Diarrhoea is a common illness for more than a third of people in Honiara, the coastal capital of Solomon Islands, where informal settlements with poor sanitation and water dominate. But the risk of diarrhoeal disease increases in the annual wet season, from November to April, and escalates during
Landowners to rescue Solomon Islands mine - and perhaps more
The dusty streets of Honiara are bustling. Once ravaged by militia fighting, 14 years of peacekeeping by the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands now sees men, women and children at markets, schools and shops, confident and free.
But the future of the vast archipelago of rainforest-
Pacific island links: COP23, PNG corruption, Tonga’s election and more
By Euan Moyle, an intern with the Lowy Institute's Pacific Islands Program.
The crisis on Manus Island continues almost a month after the refugee processing centre officially closed. This powerful photo essay from the New York Times illuminates the situation for Manusians and asylum seekers in the
New Solomon Islands PM will need all the support he can muster
Prime Minister Rick Houenipwela was sworn in last week in Solomon Islands.
Hou (the surname by which he is more readily known) replaces Manasseh Sogavare, who was removed in a motion of no confidence on 6 November reportedly for failing to implement policies and for a lack of consultation
Pacific island links: A new PM for Solomon Islands, PNG’s cable, COP23 and more
By Euan Moyle, an intern with the Lowy Institute's Pacific Islands Program.
The situation in the Manus Island detention centre remains tense, with approximately 400 refugees refusing to leave. New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has pledged AU$2.7 million for essential services to
Pacific island links: Sogavare out, COP23, Manus and more
By Euan Moyle, an intern in the Lowy Institute's Pacific Islands Program.
Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare has been ousted after a vote of no-confidence in Parliament. He has said the mass resignations last week that preceded the vote were due to the reintroduction of an anti-
Pacific island links: Solomon Islands leadership, NZ and Tokelau, Tsai Ing-wen and more
By Euan Moyle, an intern in the Lowy Institute's Pacific Islands Program.
Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare is facing a vote of no-confidence next week. A total of 18 MPs, including nine ministers, defected from the government over the weekend, saying they have lost faith in
Pacific island links: Manus closure, Evara's death, caretaker mode in New Caledonia and more
By Euan Moyle, an intern in the Lowy Institute's Pacific Islands Program.
With the Manus Island Detention Centre set to close at the end of the month, hundreds of remaining asylum seekers and refugees will be moved to government-run accommodation and hotels until they are settled in
Pacific links: Solomon Islands PM, PNG’s cabinet, Guam and more
Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop addressed an audience in Suva over the weekend to provide more clarity on Australia's new approach to the Pacific, foreshadowed last year by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. James Batley provides excellent analysis for The Interpreter. Papua New Guinea's
The end of RAMSI: A new beginning for policing in the Pacific
Nearly 14 years after Australian war ships appeared off the coast of Solomon Islands leading the largest expeditionary force in the Pacific since World War Two, the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands has come to an end. Its success is such that parents have named their children RAMSI in
By Amanda Kates
RAMSI: Nostalgia must give way to political responsibility in Solomon Islands
Almost 14 years ago I stepped off an Air Vanuatu plane in Honiara to the astonishing sight of an airfield covered with khaki army tents and several thousand Solomon Islanders holding up placards with various iterations of greetings, peace and thanks. I was in Honiara to join the RAMSI team, serving
Australia prevented a disaster on the doorstep
Originally published in the Australian Financal Review
Resilience in the post-RAMSI era
Understanding how and when governments might intervene in failing countries is an art rather than a science. It requires detailed knowledge of the country in question, the resilience of the people and systems in relation to the emerging crisis, and the willingness of the people to accept an
By Greg Colton
Pacific links: RAMSI, Baldwin Lonsdale, PNG voting update and more
The end of the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) is being marked with a week of celebrations. Nick O’Malley reports on the end of RAMSI, and the future of the Solomon Islands. The 2017 Lowy Institute Poll shows 77% of Australians believe the use of military forces would
Solomon Islands: Big hopes for new constitution
By Catherine Wilson, a freelance journalist and correspondent reporting on Papua New Guinea and the Pacific Islands region
Popular aspiration for a federal government in the Solomon Islands was not forefront in my mind as I sat under a tree in a squatter settlement on the edge of the capital,
Solomon Islands needs a parliament that will deliver results
The conduct of the general elections in Solomon Islands on 19 November appears to have been largely successful. An interim report from the Commonwealth Observer Team led by former Prime Minister of PNG Mekere Morauta has praised the conduct of the Solomon Islands Electoral Commission, the
By Mark Tamsitt
Solomon Islands: Was RAMSI worth it?
Tobias Haque and Doug Porter have worked on Solomon Islands for the past several years. The views expressed here are those of the authors and not necessarily those of their employers .
Jenny Hayward-Jones' recent paper (Australia's Costly Investment in Solomon Islands) suggests
The high price of RAMSI: Australia's lessons from the Solomon Islands
The Abbott Government will next week bring down its first aid budget, a budget which itself will contain two interesting firsts: it is the first since the integration of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) with AusAID, and the first since the transition of the very expensive Regional