In the last week of November 2021, serious rioting broke out in the Solomon Islands.
No stranger to unrest, the violence saw Australia and others
quickly step in to try to quell tensions.
But what made the situation so unusual was its apparent cause:
the country's decision to switch its diplomatic recognition
from Taiwan to the People's Republic of China.
So, how exactly did this foreign policy decision spill over into such domestic turmoil?
Hello and welcome. If you're new to the channel my name is James Ker-Lindsay and here I take an
informed look at international relations, conflicts and the origins of countries.
One of the most interesting diplomatic battles in international relations
is the bitter struggle between mainland China and Taiwan over recognition.
Although this has now been going on for over 70 years,
during the past few years it's gained in prominence as Beijing makes a concerted attempt
to win over the last remaining members of the United Nations.
Indeed, today just 14 UN members - as well as the Vatican - still recognise Taiwan.
However, while we may think of this as a foreign policy issue, for many of the countries on
the front line of the battle, the decision to switch has far reaching domestic consequences.
Both China and Taiwan have used aid and development assistance as a means of leverage.
And the sums of money involved in the decision
can often be significant for small impoverished states.
Indeed, the results of the decision can therefore stretch
well beyond what is seemingly an arcane battle between the two Chinas.
This was brought to international attention in November 2021 when major rioting broke out in
the Solomon Islands following its decision to switch recognition two years earlier, in 2019.
By way background, the story starts in October 1949 when
the communist party won the Chinese civil war.
Taking control of the mainland, it proclaimed the creation of the People's Republic of China.
Meanwhile, the losing Chinese Nationalists,
fleeing to the island of Taiwan, continued to claim to be the rightful government of the country
under the title Republic of China and retained control of the Chinese seat at the United Nations.
However, over the following decades the People's Republic gradually won international support.
Initially accepted by the Soviet Union and other communist countries,
it was recognised by Britain in 1950 and then by France, in 1964.
In October 1971, the UN General Assembly voted to accept it as
legitimate representative of China, expelling Taiwan.
Then, on 1 January 1979, it was recognised by the United States - although,
like other Western countries, Washington would continue to retain close ties to Taiwan.
Even though the People's Republic was now accepted by most of the United Nations,
by the end of the 1990s around 30 countries still recognised Taiwan.
This was largely due to the aid that Taiwan was willing to offer countries
for continued diplomatic support.
However, over the past decade - and driven by its phenomenal economic growth,
which has allowed it to offer ever greater incentives of its own - the
People's Republic has stepped up its efforts to win over the last holdouts.
Indeed, since 2016, seven countries - a third of what had been the remaining total - had switched
recognition: Burkina Faso, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Kiribati, Panama,
Sao Tome and Principe, and the Solomon Islands.
The Solomon Islands lie at the very westernmost end of the South Pacific.
Its closest neighbours are the island of Bougainville, currently a part of Papua
New Guinea, but on its way to independence, to its north west, and Vanuatu to its south east.
Mainland Australia lies around 2,000 kilometres or 1,200 miles to its southwest.
Composed of around 900 islands stretching across an
archipelago almost 1700 kilometres or a thousand miles in length,
it has a total land area of 29,000 square kilometres, or 11,000 square miles.
This makes it the 139th largest of the 193 members of the United Nations.
The population is currently around 710,000.
While ninety five percent are ethnically Melanesian, there are small Polynesian
and Micronesian communities; as well as several thousand Chinese.
Administratively, the country is divided into nine provinces.
The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal.
However, the most populous province is the neighbouring island of Malaita.
At present, GDP per capita stands at around US$2,300 per year.
While according to the World Bank this puts it in the low middle income bracket of states,
this is well below the US$3,600 average of small Pacific island states.
Although the Solomon Islands were first settled around 4,000 years ago by austronesians,
the story really starts in 1568 when the islands were discovered by Spanish explorers.
By the 19th century, the islands had
become increasingly significant as trade opened across the Pacific.
As the European colonial powers jockeyed for influence,
Germany and Britain claimed the northern and southern islands respectively.
However, in 1899 Germany ceded control of the north to Britain in return for Western Samoa.
In the years that followed,
the islands were brutally exploited as companies moved in to produce rubber and coconut oil.
Meanwhile, following the introduction of legislation to restrict land ownership
by native Melanesians, many left to work in Australia.
The resulting population decline would see the arrival of Chinese workers to replace them.
The islands came to international prominence during the Second World War
as the centre of fierce fighting between U.S. and Japanese forces.
Although the islands returned to full British rule at the end of the War,
calls grew for independence.
But while many British colonies in Asia and Africa
became independent in the 1950s and 60s, the Solomon Islands would have to wait until 1978
for its chance - becoming the 150th member of the United Nations in September that year.
In the years that followed independence, the country became increasingly restless as many
people moved from Malaita to Guadalcanal in search of work and economic opportunities.
This led to increasingly violent incidents between the native islanders and the newcomers.
In 1999, and as the two groups formed their own militias,
the government declared a state of emergency.
Meanwhile, the following year the Malaitan militia kidnapped the prime minister,
himself from Malaita, arguing that he hadn't done enough to help them.
Although he was eventually released, he then resigned from office.
Despite the change in leadership, the instability and violence continued and
by 2003 the country cheated on the verge of complete collapse.
Following repeated pleas for help from the government, Australia agreed to act.
Setting up the Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands,
RAMSI, to stabilise the situation, the mission would eventually remain in place for 14 years;
withdrawing in 2017 when Australia and the Solomon Islands signed a bilateral security
treaty allowing for a further deployment of Australian security forces if needed in future.
So, what sparked the current crisis?
As noted, the immediate cause of fighting was the government's
decision to switch its recognition from Taipei to Beijing, in September 2019,
following a recommendation from a parliamentary task force.
Although the country stood to lose development assistance from Taiwan, the government was
promised investments and major infrastructure projects by China; which was especially
keen to win over what was by now the largest remaining non-recogniser in the Pacific region.
Additionally, there were also accusations that
members of parliament were being bribed - a charge denied by China.
The decision to switch recognition was highly divisive.
As well as being criticised by the parliament's foreign affairs committee, which called for closer
relations with Taiwan, it was condemned by the premier of Malaita, Daniel Suidani, who vowed
to refuse any loans from China arguing that they were driven by Beijing's use of "debt diplomacy".
Meanwhile, leaders in Guadalcanal accused the Malaitan leader of continuing to accept
aid from Taiwan, as well as from the United States, to push his campaign against China.
Such claims were given credence when it was announced that the United States,
which has recently become more open in its support for Taiwan,
had promised 25 million dollars of aid projects to Malaita.
To put this in context, this figure is estimated to be more than 50 times
the amount Malaita had received from all other foreign donors the previous year.
It was against this backdrop that a protest against China's
recognition took place in the country's capital, Honiara, on 24 November 2021.
However, while it started peacefully, matters quickly got out of hand
as the march moved towards the country's parliament.
After protesters tried to set light to a part of the building, the demonstration turned into
a full-scale riot as the crowd - believed to have been a thousand-strong - attacked
the Chinatown district of the city, looting shops and burning down scores of buildings.
With the violence threatening to spiral out of control as local
police tried to break up the rioting with rubber bullets and tear gas,
the government requested Australian assistance under the terms of their bilateral treaty.
Within hours, Canberra had sent a detachment of troops and police officers to the country,
as did neighbouring Papua New Guinea and Fiji.
As a result, after three days the situation was finally brought under control - but not before
at least four people had died and large numbers of properties had been destroyed.
So, what was it all about?
Speaking to the international press,
the country's prime minister, Manasseh Sogavare, left no doubt about what had caused it.
Insisting that it was solely about the recognition issue, he was quick
to blame the unrest on outside powers intent on disrupting the country's relations with Beijing.
Likewise, China has also signalled that it saw the violence as having been orchestrated from outside.
Throwing its full support behind the government,
the Chinese foreign ministry insisted that all attempts to disrupt the development
of relations between China and the Solomon Islands are "just futile".
However, while it's certainly clear that the issue of recognition was the immediate cause
for the demonstrations that erupted into rioting,
in truth the situation is more complex than suggested by much of the coverage.
The recognition issue didn't suddenly cause divisions in an otherwise peaceful country.
As leading observers of the region have pointed out,
the violence appears to have been driven by various factors - not least of all the history
of tensions between the two main islands, abject poverty, and a persistent sense of deprivation
by the Malaitans - and for this the local leaders need to take responsibility for what happened.
The question, of course, is whether that discontent and the actions of
the leaders - notably the Malaitan leader - was indeed deliberately encouraged by outside actors.
Interestingly, on this point, Australia appears
to have come out as a genuinely neutral actor in the whole story.
Despite its growing differences with China, it insisted that it didn't take
sides in the dispute, nor did it take positions on the choices made
by other countries regarding their diplomatic relations.
Indeed, its intervention was actually criticised by Suidani, who accused it
of having propped up a failing government.
For over 70 years the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China,
better known as Taiwan or Chinese Taipei, have been locked in the bitter diplomatic struggle
for recognition; a battle that has increasingly been focused on aid
and financial assistance to some of the poorest countries in the world.
But while we think of it as a foreign policy matter, it has very real domestic implications for
many of these countries - especially as chequebook diplomacy gives way to debt diplomacy and the
issue of recognition becomes linked to growing Western concern about China's increasing power.
This has been graphically highlighted by the recent rioting in the Solomon Islands.
But while the international headlines, and the Solomon Islands Government, would suggest that
this was caused by the country's decision to switch its diplomatic recognition from Taiwan
to the People's Republic of China, in truth the situation is in fact more complicated.
Yes, recognition certainly played a part; a key part.
But it must be set in its proper context.
Rather than serve as the fundamental cause for unrest, it was in fact something that reignited
a long-standing issue that's destabilised the island for the past 25 years underneath.
All of this is a familiar problem of economic underdevelopment and a sense of inequality.
That said, the rioting in the Solomon Islands
has served to emphasise just how important the diplomatic battle between Beijing and Taiwan
really is for many of the countries caught in the crossfire.
I hope you found that useful. If so, here are some more videos you might find interesting.
Thanks so much for watching and see you in the next video.