Matthew Wale did not wait for the vote. On September 7 the Solomon Islands prime minister adjourned Parliament indefinitely, closing off any further attempt to unseat him after a no-confidence motion that China and US allies had been watching closely.
The motion had already collapsed a day earlier. Its instigator, Manasseh Maelanga, withdrew it on September 6. He had been sacked as home affairs minister, and more lawmakers were crossing over to Wale’s coalition. The fight had forced Wale to leave a Pacific Islands leaders summit abruptly the week before so he could get home and defend his government.
A government three months old
Wale was elected in May and set out to cut the country’s reliance on China. He is reviewing a security pact Beijing struck with Honiara in 2022, and his government is negotiating a new treaty with Australia. It has also agreed to let US Coast Guard vessels patrol Solomon waters and is in talks over American investment in a port development that China had previously eyed. Diplomats at the Pacific Islands Forum told AFP that the survival of the government would carry security consequences for the region.
Washington was paying attention in person. US deputy secretary of state Christopher Landau arrived in the Solomons on September 6 and promised the return of the Peace Corps, in a country where US forces fought a pivotal battle in World War II.
What the pause is for
“We hope to come back before Christmas to pass the budget,” Wale told Parliament. “The pace of change is fast.” The break, he said, gives time to consider major changes, among them mining reform and free education.
James Batley, Australia’s former high commissioner to the Solomons, said Canberra would be relieved. “The general public reaction to the idea of a motion of no-confidence would have been very hostile so soon after Wale’s election,” he told AFP. Australia has criticised the presence of Chinese police in the Solomons, agreed by Wale’s predecessor Manasseh Sogavare, and is working with the current government to train more Pacific police.
