Amid the modest tin-roofed houses of Honiara, the overpopulated capital of the Solomon Islands, one of the poorest states in Oceania, stands the brand new national stadium. Like the inscription, engraved in large red letters on the surrounding wall, it informs visitors that Beijing is the generous donor. The modern complex was offered during the 17thmy edition of the Pacific Games, a regional Olympics that the country hosted for the first time, from November 19 to December 2, 2023. To the point of becoming the symbol of the controversy between supporters and detractors of China, whose influence continues to expand in this area of the Pacific.
The event will have highlighted the spectacular renewed interest in this archipelago of nearly a thousand islands and islets, a former British protectorate that became independent in 1978. China, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, the United States: more than 60% of the infrastructure linked to the organisation of these games was financed by foreign countries. For Beijing, the bill amounted to the equivalent of almost 110 million euros (including 76 million for the stadium alone), out of a total estimated cost of 258 million euros.
The Solomon Islands, a somewhat forgotten territory in “Australia’s backyard,” found themselves thrust into the heart of the Sino-Western rivalry in the Pacific in the fall of 2019. On September 16 of that year, Manasseh Sogavare, then prime minister of the Solomon Islands, chose to switch allegiance, severing diplomatic ties with Taiwan in favor of the People’s Republic of China. As Beijing claims its sovereignty over the former island of Formosa in increasingly virulent terms, the switch made by the archipelago is a wake-up call for Western chancelleries. Especially since, a week later, the Republic of Kiribati – Taiwan’s seventh ally snatched away by China in three years – followed suit.
Since then, China has set up a gleaming embassy and multiplied loans and subsidies to build roads, power grids and repeater antennas, including the Solomon Islands, which appear in 156my Among the 193 places in the 2023-2024 ranking established by the United Nations according to the human development index, they are very poor. Outside the centre of the capital, roads riddled with potholes exasperate the population. On the main island of Guadalcanal, farmers sometimes take a whole day to reach the capital, where they sell their products. THEN, “China or no China, what we need above all is to be able to move”explains Rebecca, who farms a field about 50 kilometres (two hours’ drive) from Honiara.
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