Is Taiwan ally Solomon Islands considering a switch to China?
- Review task force chairman promises study tour of Pacific neighbours with China ties will do ‘due diligence’
The Solomon Islands, one of Taiwan’s remaining allies in the Pacific, is weighing the merits of a potential diplomatic switch with a study tour of a number of its island neighbours, all of which have formal ties with Beijing.
A task force set up by Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare to review the Taiwan relationship will visit the island nations of Vanuatu, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and Papua New Guinea in a tour starting this week.
Task force chairman John Moffat Fuqui said the delegation would also visit Beijing and Taipei.
“We will use their countries as case studies to see the kind of development relations they have, the kind of assistance they get, the conditionalities or lack of conditionalities they might have, the kind of governance,” Fugui, a government legislator, said in the Solomons’ capital, Honiara.
“We will do due diligence,” he said, adding the task force report was expected by the end of August and could recommend a middle course.
“It’s not either or, it’s also both,” he said, without elaborating on such a scenario.
The Solomons has recognised Taiwan since 1983 and would be a prized ally should it swap diplomatic ties as Beijing seeks to expand its influence and presence in the Pacific.