Daniel Suidani was well known as a pro-Taiwan, even after Honiara switched diplomatic allegiance to Beijing.
Daniel Suidani, a vocal critic of China and leader of the largest province of the Solomon Islands, has been removed from his post after a vote of no confidence in the provincial legislature, according to the public broadcaster. Australia’s ABC.
Lawmakers took the vote after accusing Suidani, the premier of Malaita province in the Pacific island nation, of embezzling public funds, according to ABC.
His supporters gathered in small numbers in the provincial capital Auki around polling time, where they met riot police.
ABC said Suidani, who was not present at the provincial council, lost the vote after 17 members voted against him.
Suidani has long criticized Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare’s decision to switch diplomatic allegiance to China from Taiwan in 2019.
He has rejected Chinese investment in his province and held many public events to celebrate the arrival of Taiwanese aid shipments to Malaita during the COVID-19 pandemic, although the support has not yet been received. approved by the government of Sogavare.
Suidani’s continued support of Taipei put him in direct conflict with the Solomon Islands’ One China policy and led to an increasingly acrimonious conflict. harsh and openly spitting between him and Sogavare.
In 2021, anger over the central government’s treatment of Malaita and the Solomon Islands’ approach to Beijing contributed to unrest in Honiara, located on neighboring Guadalcanal.
Rioters targeted buildings and businesses in the capital’s Chinatown district, t and At least three people were killed before they calmed down with the help of Australian police.
Last April, it was reported that Sogavare signed an agreement Security Treaty with Chinasounded the alarm in Australia and elsewhere.
The United States has been stepping up its engagement in the Pacific amid China’s growing influence.
Last month, America reopening the embassy in Honiara.
It closed its mission in 1993.
