Thread by @CleoPaskal

For those who asked, 🧵with some of my #SolomonIslands coverage.

Bottomline: SI leaders warned about dangers of CCP elite capture since before 2019 switch. No one listened.

Now they say Townsville Peace Agreement needs to be enacted. We should listen.
sundayguardianlive.com/news/china-ent…

Written w/ Alexander Gray (ex-NSC). Why US shouldn't 'subcontract' policy - i.e. with Pacific Island Countries - even to very close partners like Australia.

It undermines trust and allows for misunderstandings.

No one benefits, except malign actors.

thediplomat.com/2021/12/the-so…

Explains why Nov 2021 Australian deployment to #SolomonIslands post-riots was a strategic error. It bolstered an unpopular pro-PRC PM and, as we know now, gave him justification for inviting in Chinese 'police trainers' soon after.
thediplomat.com/2021/11/foreig…

Gives historical context the problems with CCP influence operations and the Australian deployment in #SolomonIslands - and underlines the ability of Solomon Islanders to solve their own problems effectively when given the chance.
sundayguardianlive.com/news/solomon-i…

Reports the CCP/Sogavare-backed attempted Vote of No Confidence against Malaita Premier Daniel Suidani and how the people of Malaita resolved it peacefully.
sundayguardianlive.com/news/solomon-i…

Q&A with Hon. Peter Kenilorea Jr.

He says he's very concerned CCP influence will bring violence (predicting riots to come a few weeks later).

He's told Australia and NZ but they're "still not picking up clues about what is happening on the ground".
sundayguardianlive.com/news/ccp-aggre…

Details the Chinese playbook for elite capture, and how effective it was in #SolomonIslands.
sundayguardianlive.com/news/china-buy…

#Malaita Premier Daniel Suidani resisted CCP influence in his province so CCP/Sogavare tried to limit his access to medical treatment, exporting China's social credit system: submit to CCP or risk death. Australia didn't help. Finally Taiwan stepped in.
sundayguardianlive.com/news/taiwan-ne…

October 20, 2021 Testimony to @HouseForeign Subcommittee: Asia, the Pacific, Central Asia, and Nonproliferation. #SolomonIslands brought up in the Q&A.

Bonus article: how all this is going on in many other places as well, including the other Pacific Island Country that switched from Taiwan to China in 2019, #Kiribati.
sundayguardianlive.com/news/kiribati-…

And it continues...

On what to do about Beijing’s “Oh yeah? So what are you gonna do about it?” security agreement between China and Solomon Islands.

sundayguardianlive.com/world/china-mo…

Statement from #SolomonIslands Western Province Premier Hon Christian Burley Mesepitu: "my government is deeply concerned" about the proposed security agreement with #China.

Raises PNG border concerns and existing frameworks; call for decentralization and early general election.