The Solomon Islands Parliament on Thursday voted to postpone the next general election until late April 2024, roughly seven months behind schedule. Opposition leaders blasted the move as an unconstitutional power grab by pro-China Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare, who claimed the delay was necessary because the island nation will host the Pacific Games in November 2023.
Harris and Blackburn were both in the Indo-Pacific region this week, but one was on a lengthy vacation while the other took on China.
Chinese state media on Sunday celebrated the defeat of pugnacious Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his succession by left-wing Labor Party leader Anthony Albanese, calling it a “turning point for the China-Australia relationship.”
The office of Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare stated on Friday that the archipelago’s new security treaty with China will not allow the Chinese to build a military base.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told Radio New Zealand (RNZ) on Monday her government was “gravely” concerned by the Solomon Islands’ recent confirmation it signed a security pact with China.
Australian troops will join a small force of police and diplomats bound for the Solomon Islands on Thursday as civil unrest continues across the tiny South Pacific nation.
The few countries of the United Nations that recognize Taiwan’s sovereignty made a case for their ally’s inclusion in the General Assembly on Tuesday and Wednesday, urging the world not to allow China to intimidate it out of accepting reality.
Vice President Mike Pence canceled plans to visit the Solomon Islands this week after the country switched its allegiance from sovereign Taiwan to China, according to a report.
