Solomon Islands’ pro-China PM attacks West’s ‘lies’, interference in fiery re-election bid launch: ‘we must wake up’

Sogavare made a fiery initial pitch to voters on Wednesday, telling parliament his country was at the centre of a “geopolitical war” between fast-rising China and Western powers that he painted as arrogant has-beens.

“We must wake up. Those days are over,” he said, while pointing to Chinese investment as a means of breaking his country’s dependence on foreign aid.

Solomon Islands’ economy has been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic, inflation and rising commodity prices.

China-friendly Solomons PM says he snubbed US summit to avoid ‘lecture’

It has an annual budget deficit of more than six per cent of gross domestic product, according to 2023 International Monetary Fund forecasts.

Critics have accused Sogavare and his party of corruption and using China’s political and economic support to secure his grip on power.

Sogavare dismissed those allegations on Wednesday, saying he had been the target of “fabricated lies by agents of Western powers” who should “realise that their days of dominating and blinding the people of this country are over”.

“I have to go down in the history of this country as the most hated prime minister, the most sworn at, and most falsely accused,” he said.

“I am willing to go to prison if I am proven to commit any wrongs against the law.

Sogavare denounces US, saying Solomon Islands maligned for China pact

“I’m surprised at how low people can go in their hate campaign against the partnership that Solomon Islands forged with the great country of the People’s Republic of China.”

Parliament is expected to be dissolved later this month, paving the way for elections in the first quarter of the year. No date has yet been set.