Thread by @loyndsview

"... it points to an important lesson for the United States as it vies with #China for influence across the Pacific: you have got to show up. And the United States has not."

nytimes.com/2022/06/27/opi… #SolomonIslands #diplomacy

1/ "We get it. The #SolomonIslands is small, remote and economically insignificant. But if all countries like us are dismissed as such, China will pick us off one by one with its promises of business projects and development aid."

2/ "There is a creeping sense today that we are being ignored, if not forgotten. So who can blame us if we open the door to new friends who can help with our needs?

And those needs are great."

3/ "Despite rich natural resources, around 80% of our 700,000 citizens still live in hard to reach rural areas, subsisting on family-run plots of lands. Many still lack access to running water, basic sanitation and electricity."

4/ "Jobs are scarce, access to #healthcare is limited, & high numbers of children are stunted by poor diets. Already prone to earthquakes, tsunamis & cyclones, we face ominous new threats because of #climatechange, including #coralbleaching & rising #sealevels...."

5/ "Few Solomon Islanders know much about our past bonds with the West — nearly 75% of our population is under age 35, and most are poorly educated."

6/ "China's growing presence... has become impossible to miss in #Honiara, the capital. Chinese-run businesses — construction, hardware, fishing, transport... have quickly become part of the local economy since our govt established diplomatic relations w Beijing in 2019."