Chinese cash is reaping political rewards ahead of the Solomon Islands election as the West fails to walk the talk in its Pacific step-up. China has made it clear who it wants to win Solomon Islands’ upcoming election, and there is little surprise it is the pro-Beijing candidate Manasseh Sogavare. The increase in Chinese investment in Solomon Islands is the political ticket Sogavare and his coalition members need to win back power after the April 17 poll. His Democratic Coalition Government for Advancement (DCGA) was instrumental in the Solomons’ diplomatic switch from recognising Taiwan to recognising Beijing in 2019. This decision changed everything for Solomon Islands. Sogavare maintains the upper hand going into the election as his coalition was instrumental in facilitating Chinese investments in the country, tapping into Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative to finance infrastructure developments. The People’s Republic of China and the many Chinese companies operating in the Solomon Islands want to see Sogavare back at the helm. This is evident from the Chinese Embassy’s support of the incumbent government in facilitating and coordinating many activities leading up to the April 17 elections. Posts on the Chinese Embassy in Solomon Islands Facebook page demonstrate this active engagement, with Chinese dignitaries pressing the flesh across the country. This month, a new relationship was struck between the Solomon Islands’ most populated island Malaita Province and Jiangsu Province of China. Chinese English-language newspaper The Global Times has since reported on the delivery of “essential items like water tanks, solar lamps, and fishing nets to Malaita’s governor (sic), Martin Fini.” Meanwhile, in North Guadalcanal, the Sogavare government is heralding the delivery of the first of 140 telecommunication towers, which was funded with resources obtained from Exim Bank with the assistance of China. Other activities include a construction update visit of the China-Aid National Referral Hospital Comprehension Medical Center Project by the caretaker Minister of Health, Dr Culwick Togamana, and the announcement of a Chinese Government Scholarship Programme. This new and shining infrastructure points to the fruitful relationship between the Sogavare government and China. The announcement in March 2024 of the feasibility study of the China-aid Auki Road project in Malaita Province, the country’s most populous island, is another step in advancing Chinese investment in the country. In 2019, Malaita Province Premier Daniel Suidani opposed the diplomatic switch from Taiwan to China. In February 2023, he was ousted following a second vote of no-confidence and was disqualified as provincial member for Ward 5 of West Baegu and Fataleka for refusing to recognise the national government’s One China Policy. This investment allows Chinese investors to enter the mining and forestry sectors. However, it must be noted that Chinese investments had already been operating in Solomon Islands over a decade before the 2019 diplomatic switch. For example, the China Harbor Engineering Company (CHEC) first entered Solomon Islands in 2015 to build two bridges outside of Honiara funded by the Asia Development Bank (ADB). The increase in Chinese investment in the country also paved the way for the security agreement between Solomon Islands and China in early 2022. The riots of November 2021 which targeted Chinese shops in Honiara triggered the security agreement which facilitated the establishment of a China Police Liaison Team under a cooperative relation between the Solomon Islands Royal Police Force and Ministry of Public Security in China. It was part of the China-Solomons policing cooperation according to then China ambassador to Solomon Islands Li Ming. The Chinese Liaison Team was deployed to the Solomon Islands to train local police on public order management. This deployment also included the donation of water cannon vehicles, motorcycles, protective equipment as well as food items as Christmas presents to the families of local police officers in Honiara at the end of 2022. Sogavare had claimed the November 2021 riots indicated that “security could not be adequately provided through RSIPF and existing security arrangements, despite years of capacity building and other assistance provided under the Australian-funded Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands”. Protecting Chinese investments in Solomon Islands was demonstrated in a “community engagement” by senior Chinese Liaison police officers visiting the Win Win Mining Investment Limited outside Honiara in October 2022. The visit followed the arrest of Win Win Managing Director Dan Shi, a Chinese national, who allegedly threatened local landowners with a replica gun.