Above: Solomon Islands Minister for Foreign Affairs Jeremiah Manele and People’s Republic of China (PRC) Foreign Minister Wang Yi sign a joint communique on the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries on September 21, 2019. Image from http://www.globaltimes.cn
30-03-2022: As soon as the news surfaced that the Solomon Islands government was concluding a policing and security arrangement with the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Australian politicians began losing the plot. Hysterically claiming that the PRC was “building a military base” in the Solomon Islands, they ramped up anti-China mania for their own ends. Australian Defence Minister Peter Dutton stated that Australia should be very concerned about a Chinese military base being established “less than 2000 kilometres off the Australian coast”.[1] Deputy Australian Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce suggested that China may want a naval base in the Solomon Islands to “intimidate” Australia.[2] New Zealand (NZ) politicians joined with their Australian counterparts, with NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern claiming that the Solomon Islands/PRC deal was “gravely concerning”.[3] The NZ Foreign Minister condemned the security pact with the PRC, even while recognising it was within the sovereign rights of the Solomon Islands to do so.[4]
Self-rule thrown overboard
The Australian government, however, cares not one whit about the sovereign rights of Pacific Islands when push comes to shove, especially when it comes to the PRC. Echoing a section of the ruling class, David Llewellyn-Smith openly called for the overthrow of the Solomon Islands government in the publication MacroBusiness. His editorial stated baldly that Australia should capture the island of Guadalcanal to “engineer regime change in Honiara”. Presumably with a straight face, he went on to claim that this is Australia’s equivalent to the Cuban Missile Crisis, and that it is a red line that China should not be allowed to cross.[5] It is true that Mr Llewellyn-Smith is not an Australian politician, but his unhinged words – literally calling for an invasion – reflect the supposed “threat” from the PRC which the corporate media and Australian government representatives have whipped up over recent years.
In his first statements on the issue, Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare said that there are no plans to ask the PRC to build a military base on their soil, and that they are insulted by such unfounded stories. Further, he stated that we watched our Chinatown burn to ashes alongside vandalism to Pacific Games infrastructure, and that such infrastructure must be protected.[6] PM Sogavare in the process revealed the reason for the security pact with the PRC in the first place. That is, last November, the Solomon Islands was subjected to violent days of rioting and the burning down of Chinese owned businesses, orchestrated behind the scenes by Washington via the US Agency for International Development (USAID). The Solomon Islands had switched from their long-standing recognition of Taiwan to the PRC in 2019, which was a de-facto admission of the enormous economic and trade opportunities that the PRC’s vast and largely state-owned economy can offer – as opposed to the faltering for-profit economies of the West. In response, the US deep state began funneling “aid” to Malaita and its anti-China Premier Daniel Suidani, in a not-so-subtle attempt to foster separatism and/or regime change in the Solomon Islands.[7] The Solomon Islands has attempted to define itself as a friend to all, and an enemy to no one. Yet even this eminently fraternal stance is beyond the pale for imperialism if this includes friendly and co-operative relations with the PRC.
Regime change frenzy
The Global Times, a PRC newspaper one step removed from the outlook of the government in Beijing, correctly called out the Australian government’s reaction to the Solomon Islands/PRC agreement as “hysterical” and “frantic”. It quoted military expert Song Zhongping who believes – not without foundation – that Australia is experiencing “persecutory delusions” in which whatever the PRC does in the Pacific region will be portrayed as “threats” to Australia.[8] On top of this, it highlights the stellar heights of hypocrisy of Canberra, which while loudly condemning Russia’s alleged “invasion” of Ukraine (and supplying Ukraine’s Nazi infested state with weapons and 70 000 tonnes of coal[9]), it openly canvasses the option of carrying out an invasion of a Pacific island nation itself. So invasions and regime change operations are fine – so long as “we” are the ones carrying it out!
Workers should be clear – Washington (or Canberra) will not stop its attempts at the overthrow of any nation which is even half friendly to the PRC or Russia, as part of its prime aim of regime change in both the PRC and Russia themselves. Independence from the Anglo/US Empire cannot be tolerated – largely because the floundering capitalist economies in the West are being surpassed by the predominantly state owned and collectivised economy of the PRC. In short, the West’s capitalism is being left for dust by socialism in the PRC. Not that you will hear about this either from Western politicians, nor the top levels of the Communist Party of China (CPC). The Western ruling classes are well aware that science, technology, engineering, computing power etc. in the PRC is leaping ahead of the West, but the last thing they want is for “their own” workers to demand anything remotely similar.
On the other hand, the CPC operates strictly under the Stalinist nostrums of “socialism in one country” and “peaceful coexistence”. Thus, CPC leaders will never appeal to workers internationally to assist the worldwide struggle for socialism, and will instead seek to prop up capitalism, and even imperialism, outside its own borders. This is why the PRC is coming to the same police and security arrangements with the Solomon Islands as that of Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. What is required instead is a definitive struggle for workers’ states in the West (and in the Pacific) combined with a proletarian political revolution in the PRC. Imperialist sponsored regime change will then be no more.
WORKERS LEAGUE
E: workersleague@redfireonline.com
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/24/china-finalising-security-deal-with-solomon-islands-to-base-warships-in-the-pacific (29-03-2022)
[2] https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-28/china-solomon-island-naval-base-intends-to-intimidate-joyce-says/100944228 (29-03-2022)
[3] https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/128184665/solomon-islandschina-security-deal-is-gravely-concerning-prime-minister-jacinda-ardern-says (29-03-2022)
[4] https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/politics/china-solomon-islands-security-pact-new-zealand-foreign-minister-nanaia-mahuta-says-it-risks-destabilising-pacific-continues-nzdf-deployment/ (29-03-2022)
[5] https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10650759/Commentator-calls-Australia-INVADE-Solomon-Islands-David-Llewellyn-Smith-Macrobusiness.html (29-03-2022)
[6] https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/solomon-islands-prime-minister-manasseh-sogavare-insulted-by-reaction-to-security-treaty-with-china/ar-AAVBzoQ (29-03-2022)
[7] https://redfireonline.com/2021/12/06/solomon-islands-washington-fuels-anti-china-riots/ (29-03-2022)
[8] https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202203/1256947.shtml (29-03-2022)
[9] https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/australia-to-send-weapons-humanitarian-aid-and-70-000-tonnes-of-coal-to-ukraine-20220319-p5a636.html (29-03-2022)
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