- Solomon Islands escalate tensions in the Pacific
- India rebuffs China’s advances
- Gas imports from Russia increase sharply
- US weapons for Taiwan delayed
- New infections instead of lockdown end
- Beijing’s concerned about North Korea
- A profile of the Da Bai: Vilified as ‘white guards’
The power struggle between China and the USA has a new theater: the Solomon Islands. And Beijing has scored a veritable coup there with a so-called security agreement. However, behind the supposedly altruistic international cooperation lie far-reaching goals and interests. Today’s analysis explains why the small archipelago between Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu has become an important power factor in the Pacific. This has startled the US and its allies to the point that some are already raving about a US military intervention.
Meanwhile, Beijing has launched a surprising charm campaign – and its target is none other than longtime rival India. Because Delhi does not support Western sanctions against Russia, Beijing believes it has removed its southern neighbor from the fold of Western democracies. Our author team in Beijing reports that India’s supposed bond with China has other reasons – and is therefore quickly reaching its end. In any case, China’s latest advances have been coldly dismissed.
Finally, I would like to draw your attention to today’s profile. This time it is about the “Da Bai” (大白) – China’s covid fighters with their white disposable protective suits. Fabian Peltsch shows how the once celebrated helpers have turned into thuggish guards over the course of the Covid pandemic – and how China’s Internet users are reacting to this transformation.
Michael Radunski
Feature
Why China and the US are fighting over the Solomon Islands
The power struggle between China and the USA has a new theater: the Solomon Islands – a small archipelago in the South Seas, located between Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu. Just a few weeks ago, its geographical location would probably have been described as “at the end of the world”. But for a few days now, the group of islands with its population of just 700,000 has been at the center of the Pacific power struggle between the United States and China.
The trigger is a diplomatic coup by China: With a “security agreement” signed a few days ago, Beijing turned a decades-old critic into an ally. Even before that, Solomon’s Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare had been persuaded to break diplomatic ties with Taiwan after 36 years and several million US dollars from Taipei. But now Sogavare is betting on Beijing. His rationale: He wants to give the population a better life and address the security threats they face.
So China would have every reason to celebrate. But instead of popping the champagne corks, the leadership in Beijing refrained from any fanfare. Even the signing of the agreement remained secret at first – as did its exact terms.
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