Divided Isles: Solomon Islands and the China Switch

by Edward Acton Cavanough

In 2019, Solomon Islands made international headlines when the country severed its decades-old alliance with Taiwan in exchange for a partnership with Beijing. The decision prompted international condemnation and terrified security experts, who feared Australia’s historical Pacific advantage would come unstuck.

This development was framed as another example of China’s inevitable capture of the region – but this misrepresents how and why the decision was made, and how Solomon Islanders have skilfully leveraged global angst over China to achieve extraordinary gains. Despite Solomon Islands’ strategic importance, most outsiders know little about the country, a fragile island-nation stretching over a thousand islands and speaking seventy indigenous languages.

In Divided Isles, Edward Cavanough explains how the switch played out on the ground and considers its extraordinary potential consequences. He speaks with the dissidents and politicians who shape Solomon Islands’ politics, and to the ordinary people whose lives have been upended by a decision that has changed the country – and the region – forever.

Kindle Edition

Published April 9, 2024

Reviews

[Katie Putz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Solomon Islands was catapulted into international attention when, in 2019, it switched recognition from Taiwan to China. While globally, the change was framed as Beijing picking off yet another ally of Taiwan, that geopolitical choice was a *choice* made my political actors for political reasons. It was mapped into local dynamics and divides. In the Switch, savvy politicians found causes to hitch themselves to, leveraging the moment.

This was an excellent, and digestible, deep dive into the politics of the Solomon Islands. While centered on the Switch, it offers much more than an analysis of the 2019 changes, and lays out the contours of the local political dynamics, and characters, that nevertheless have had global impact.

[Kosta · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone who's followed this closely since 2019, this is hands down the best and most thoround analysis of the current situation I've read. Very readable (it shows that the author is a gifted article writer), the amount of context given is great, and there are as many scoops filling in blanks I'd been wondering about as I could have wanted. The chapter on Sogavare's background contained a standout find in the form of the uncredited interview he finds and cites. Really, the whole thing was an unparalleled look into whatever topic it set itself to looking at, tons of details on everything. The author has really put in the work on the ground, interviewed Solomon Islanders across the social spectrum, including key players in the political turmoil, it's a great resource

The only con and reason I couldn't give it 5 stars is that, for a book that does such a great job of laying out the details of the situation and the current and historic motivations of the main players, the book still partially suffers from the bias of an Australian perspective that's quite dismissive of Sogavare's motivations and beliefs.

Oddly, ASPI is mentioned in purely positive terms, and the only criticism of it, calling it an Australian government funded anti-China think tank paid to manipulate public opinion against China, is in scare quotes and described as 'Beijing's diatribe'. Although ASPI has done good plenty of reporting as is noted in the book, it's hard to ignore its constant anti-China slant. And it is indeed funded by the AUstralian government, in addition to other western governments and large western-based companies, including almost every major arms manufacturer. ASPI's analysis in this situation essentially went against more anti-China claims, so it's easy to see how this aspect of ASPI could go unmentioned, but notable nonetheless

Another example was when talking about the November 2021 riots. Although it's laid out in great detail how they were planned out by M4D, how M4d was linked to Daniel Suidani and the MPG, how the aim had been to get Sogavare to change policy course or step down, that there were threats to his life and that when it turned violent he had to flee on foot, Sogavare's warnings of Daniel Suidani's involvement in 'a violent coup' plot are dismissed as 'unfounded accusations', playing into media tropes of Sogavare as a paranoid autocrat.

Elsewhere, the book appears to attempt to take a diplomatic path and describe Australia's "perceived interference in the country's legal system" when describing the period when Australia was 1. militarily occupying the country, 2. taking control of most of the government, 3. illegally fabricating charges against the attorney general, 4. illegally extraditing the attorney general, and 5. illegally ransacking the prime ministers office. Again, you can see why it's described like that, but it comes across as a blind spot to the Australian government and the AFP deliberately seeking to do bad things.

There are a couple more examples like that, but they're minor and really, I have to reiterate that this is definitely the best, most holistic and thorough, and least biased analysis of the current situation out, and these instances of biased language creeping in are few and far between, and drowned out by the tons of facts that make this book such an essential read to understand the moment.

[Amie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book and background on a complicated issue.

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book. Good reminder that all politics are local.