Aside from a few lingering China apologists, no one will be surprised to learn that China has set up a propaganda machine in the Solomon Islands to spread hatred, fear, and fake news about the West.

The social media campaign involves censoring positive news and discussion about Australia, Taiwan, America, and other Western allies. At the same time, Chinese bot farms (where hundreds of mobile phones with Twitter and Facebook accounts are stuck to a wall in front of some poor slave labour force) are drowning the internet in pro-China lies.

There is a fair bit of evidence to suggest that this has been happening for several years and may have played a role in drumming up support for the recent Chinese takeover of the Pacific nation. After all, China didn’t walk in the front door without an invitation.

During the anti-government (and specifically anti-Beijing) riots that took place toward the end of 2021 in Honiara, the Chinese disinformation network was working at full speed to ‘shape’ and ‘manipulate’ public opinion regarding Solomon Islands’ security partners – particularly Taiwan.

The riots were a clear-cut rebellion against a corrupt domestic government living in the pocket of the aggressive communist regime in China who – in exchange for personal bribes – had been busying itself selling off local assets and severing long-held ties with friend Taiwan (as part of a larger campaign to isolate them and potentially invade).

Enraged, the rioters centred their rebellion on Chinatown. This civil fury had everything to do with China’s interference, but the bot farms blamed the riots on Australia and America. (New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, and Fiji also came to help, but China has these nations under the thumb and kept them out of the narrative.)

This is why I called Scott Morrison out last December for his idiotic decision to wander into the Solomon Islands and help the Chinese-backed corrupt regime crush the citizen protests. Even Taiwan warned Australia not to intervene by upholding Xi Jinping’s interests with military force.

As I wrote at the time:

Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare has used his time in office to strengthen Chinese relationships to the detriment of the nation’s close bonds with Taiwan. China offered the struggling government $730 million as part of their global ‘debt-trap diplomacy’ scheme, provided they officially cut Taiwan off from all diplomatic relations – ending a thirty-six-year friendship.

The astonishing demand was eagerly accepted by Sogavare. It was the first of many offers, including a notorious leaked letter in late November of 2020 between Solomon Islands Finance Minister Harry Kuma and Beijing businessman Terry Wong which discussed a $151 billion loan to be repaid over 20 years. The Chinese are also building the main stadium and various expensive facilities in the Solomon Islands for the Pacific Games in 2023.

Enormous sums of money are not only going into the treasury. Dissenting Premier of Malaita Daniel Suidani revealed Chinese officials have been offering politicians bribes of $165,000 in exchange for voting to exclude Taiwan.

I’m certain Morrison and the Liberal Party thought they would gain brownie points for stabilising the riots in favour of the regime, instead, China blamed the riots on Morrison.

The people from Malaita refused to be bribed and launched a vicious protest against the capital. They also held (and won) a referendum desiring independence from the regime which Sogavare refuses to acknowledge.

Morrison gift-wrapped the Solomon Islands for China and, despite ridiculous statements that the regime picked Beijing because of Australia’s ‘climate crimes’ (the irony!), the Solomon Islands’ regime has since drawn up and signed various agreements to allow China to mine, farm, fish, and control various natural resources in exchange for money and military force.

Now that China’s supremacy over the Solomon Islands is well and truly cemented, there is evidence that Beijing is controlling the state-run media along with coercing local journalists and other media outlets in the Pacific Islands.

China bans social media at home because it knows how powerful the medium is to destroy its political opposition abroad. As reported by The Strategist:

The influence channel of most concern, identified as being the most effective in propagating CCP narratives online, was the publication of CCP official–led articles in local media. This included opinion pieces, press releases and locally produced articles that were almost entirely dependent on direct quotes from CCP officials. These publications came wrapped in the packaging of a trusted local media source and allowed the CCP to spread its message to a wider audience, resulting in greater penetration and engagement. The CCP was highly active in this area. In this case of the Honiara riots, CCP officials had almost as many statements published in local media discussing the cause of the riots as the Solomon Islands own government officials.

Subverting the governments of strategic assets to prime them for a silent conquest is nothing new for China, but it would be foolish for Western media or Western governments to think this saturation of anti-Western propaganda is about them.

It is more likely that China is keeping its promise with Sogavare by suffocating any remaining voices of domestic political dissent. Attacking the West (and Taiwan) is the same thing as praising Sogavare for kicking Taiwan out of the Solomons and replacing them with China.

This is about making sure that China’s purchase of the Solomon Islands sticks. Beijing doesn’t want any pesky local peasants complaining about poverty or tyranny on social media. By demonising the West, China silences the people of the Solomon Islands forever.

And what has idiot Albanese done? He has strengthened ties with the pro-China Solomon Islands regime. He has duct-taped himself to a debt-trapped government that is attacking our strategic partners in Taiwan and providing a safe military haven for the most dangerous force in the Pacific.

Albanese has rewarded Sogavare’s brutality and praised China’s imperialist expansionism all so that he can look like a peacemaker when really he is helping China pave the way to conflict.

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