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In 2019, Solomon Islands made international headlines when the country severed its decades-old alliance with Taiwan in exchange for a partnership with Beijing. The decision prompted international condemnation and terrified security experts, who feared Australia’s historical Pacific advantage would come unstuck.
This development was framed as another example of China’s inevitable capture of the region – but this misrepresents how and why the decision was made, and how Solomon Islanders have skilfully leveraged global angst over China to achieve extraordinary gains. Despite Solomon Islands’ strategic importance, most outsiders know little about the country, a fragile island-nation stretching over a thousand islands and speaking seventy indigenous languages.
In Divided Isles, Edward Cavanough explains how the switch played out on the ground and considers its extraordinary potential consequences. He speaks with the dissidents and politicians who shape Solomon Islands’ politics, and to the ordinary people whose lives have been upended by a decision that has changed the country – and the region – forever.
‘Divided Isles is well balanced and multifaceted, providing an urgently needed counterbalance to the hawkish or complacent commentaries that skirt or reduce domestic complexities.’
Kurt Johnson, The Saturday Paper
‘A lucid, well written and detailed examination of a neglected part of contemporary China's diplomacy. Based on first-hand experience, Acton Cavanough’s book brings to light the upside, and the downside, of how the smallest states engage with China, and how, far from being a one-way street, this all too often ends up more like a tussle where neither side quite gets what they want.’
Kerry Brown, author of Xi: A Study in Power
‘The geopolitics of China’s rise is usually told from the perspective of Beijing and Washington. Divided Isles gives us a view from the periphery, revealing the complex domestic politics that animated Solomon Islands’ 2019 “Switch” from recognising Taiwan to recognising China. With a journalist’s nose for a good story, Cavanough’s narrative is both lively and informative.’
Peter Gries, Lee Kai Hung Chair and Director, Manchester China Institute
‘An insightful investigation of a dynamic series of events with profound domestic and regional implications. Absolutely a must-read for observers of the new Pacific geopolitics.’
Terence Wesley-Smith, Professor Emeritus, Center for Pacific Island Studies
'Books that make complex subjects accessible are highly necessary, especially when they try to grasp the
point of view of Pacific Islanders on geopolitical processes that all too often are rendered invisible by the top-down, low-resolution, profoundly biased perspective of outsiders.'
Rodolfo Maggio, Pacific Affairs: Volume 98, No. 4
Introduction
Part I: Island universe
1 'Afuera!'
2 Jungle road
Part II: Restive state
3 Running aground
4 Manasseh of East Choiseul
5 Massina men
Part III: The switch
6 Devil's night
7 Escape from Adeliua
9 The games
9 Rivers of gold
Part IV: Rebellion
10 'No need China!'
11 Wuhan window
12 Honiara burning
Part V: Twisted iron
13 Seeking protection
14 Red line
15 Arc of anxiety
Part VI: Where the north road ends
16 Henderson concession
17 East to Fataleka
18 Mustafa rising
19 Making a martyr
Epilogue: Ifutalo's Eden
Index