Communist China is infiltrating the Solomon Islands, seeking to create favorable economic, diplomatic, and military advantages for itself, one MP says.
WASHINGTON—A leading voice in the Solomon Islands Parliament says China’s communist regime is infiltrating his country at every level.
Peter Kenilorea Jr., a Solomon Islands member of parliament and chair of its Foreign Relations Committee, says the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has increasingly infiltrated the nation since Manasseh Sogavare, who’s pro-China, assumed the office of prime minister again in 2019.
In an exclusive interview with The Epoch Times, Mr. Kenilorea said the Solomon Islands is now facing a crisis of public opinion, with pro- and anti-CCP discourse dividing the country’s people.
“That infiltration has just gotten stronger. It’s a battle of hearts and minds, really. That’s what’s happening in the Solomon Islands right now,” Mr. Kenilorea said.
“It’s more than just the government. It’s actually going through to the people themselves. … [It’s] what we term locally in the Solomon Islands as ‘the switch.’”
That “switch” refers to Mr. Sogavare’s decision in 2019 to withdraw the nation’s diplomatic recognition of Taiwan in favor of the CCP.
Chinese Influence Pervades Solomon Islands
Mr. Kenilorea’s interview with The Epoch Times followed his meeting with Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), chair of the U.S. House Select Committee on the CCP.
The topic of CCP infiltration was a key concern during the two officials’ discussion, Mr. Kenilorea said, and he hopes that going forward, a greater U.S. engagement with the Solomon Islands may help assuage the growing pro-China sentiment.
“We’ve been talking about concerns of China, the CCP infiltration into the Solomon Islands, and some of the perspectives that I see in terms of that ongoing infiltration into society,” he said.
“At the same time, there’s a lot of hope for stronger engagement with the U.S. as well.”
Such engagement isn’t easy these days. The Sogavare administration inked a comprehensive strategic partnership with the CCP earlier in the year.
That deal follows another in late 2022 in which the Sogavare administration agreed to borrow more than $66 million from a Chinese state-owned bank to fund the construction of 161 telecommunications towers by tech giant Huawei.
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