The general election in the Solomon Islands has begun, and the United States is also secretly exerting its efforts, and this time the country's Yuhua governor was the first to lose the election, and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi publicly stated that the South Pacific island countries are not the "backyard" of any country.
On the 17th of this month, the Solomon Islands also launched a new National Assembly election, this time a total of 334 candidates for 50 parliamentary seats, according to the domestic rules of the Solomon Islands, the new government of the prime minister will be voted by the new parliamentarians, therefore, the parliamentary seats are crucial for the various parties in the Solomon Islands.
This is not only the first time that Solomon Islands has held both national and provincial council elections, but also the first general election since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, which has attracted the attention of the international community. According to the latest news, in this provincial parliamentary election, a governor of Youhua has not been re-elected.
It is reported that Finney, the governor of Malaita Island Province, the most populous province in the Solomon Islands, has been defeated in the election by the former governor of the province, Sudani. Not only are these two fierce rivals, but they are also very different in terms of foreign policy. Al-Sudani was a typical pro-American politician who, during his tenure as governor, not only banned Chinese companies from entering Malaita province, but also received a large amount of aid from the United States.
Finney, however, is a friendly Chinese politician who, under his leadership, has promoted a number of cooperation between the two countries, and not long ago, the province established relations with China's Jiangsu Province, and last year, at a meeting with Chinese Ambassador to Solomon Islands Li Ming, he openly stated that he was willing to join the Solomon Islands provinces in developing relations with China.
Therefore, many analysts believe that Finney's defeat to Soudani this time will have a certain impact on the future development path of Sino-Chinese relations. Of course, this incident also sends a big signal, that is, the United States has also played a role in this election. After all, even before the election began, foreign media reported that USAID was trying to increase voters' anti-government sentiment by holding "democracy promotion" events in the country.
Not only that, but the Australian media has also begun to hype and smear China, which has "bribed" some politicians in the Solomon Islands. Although the voting ended in just one day, the counting took a week or two, and the presidential election was the main event after the parliamentary elections. Therefore, the Solomon Islands are not destined to be peaceful in the next few weeks, and it is likely that the United States will also incite a riot.
The purpose of the United States and Western countries is also quite clear, that is, to let the current Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands, Sogavare, step down and support the pro-American and pro-Western prime minister to come to power. As a result, the current general election is also considered the "most important" election in the Solomon Islands since independence.
As things stand, although Finney has lost, Sogavare's coalition has a good chance of winning the election as long as it can win at least 26 seats in parliament. In addition, Sogavare is also known as an "evergreen" in Solomon Islands politics, and in the 2019 general election, his party won a majority of seats in parliament, which also means that he has a big chance of winning this time.
Sogavare's biggest rival, Kenilorea, has been opposed to security cooperation between the two countries and has supported Western politicians. Therefore, after the unification of votes in the parliamentary election, the election of the prime minister can also be seen. It is worth mentioning that during this critical period, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi also made clear China's position to the outside world during his visit to South Pacific countries.
It is reported that Wang Yi is visiting Papua New Guinea in the past two days, and after talks with his foreign minister, Tkachenko, Wang Yi publicly stressed that Pacific island countries are not the "backyard" of any major power, and major countries should not engage in bloc confrontation in the South Pacific region, which is not in line with the urgent needs of South Pacific island countries and runs counter to the trend of world development.
At the same time, Wang Yi also criticized AUKUS by name, which was formed by the United States, Britain and Australia, and said that China regards the South Pacific island countries as indispensable partners and will not attach any political conditions to aid the island countries. In addition, Wang Yi also called on all parties to respect the Solomon Islands' general election and refrain from interfering in its internal affairs.
It can be seen from this that China has already seen through these small actions of the United States, so Wang Yi will point out this matter this time. However, now that South Pacific countries are increasingly pursuing "independence", there is not much room for the United States to maneuver.