The hand counting of votes is under way in Solomon Islands,
해외메이저사이트 where a Wednesday election has put the Pacific nation's relationship with China in
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A leading contender to become the Solomon Islands' next prime minister has vowed to rip up a security pact with China, as the Pacific nation began counting votes Thursday in a pivotal general elec
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The unfolding contest has cast the spotlight on China's efforts to stamp its mark on the South Pacific, and has been pitched in part as a referendum on Beijing's growing influence in the cou
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Prominent opposition figure Peter Kenilorea further underlined the stakes by pledging to scrap a contentious security pact inked with China in
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"If we are in government, we will abolish the security treaty," leadership aspirant Kenilorea told AFP from his village base on the island of Mal
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"We don't think that it's beneficial to the Solomon Islands," the former top diplomat said
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Incumbent Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare has championed deeper ties with Beijing since coming to power in
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He has praised Chinese aid, trade and investment as the key to lifting living standards in one of the poorest nations in the w
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Members of the Solomons International Assistance Force stand guard at the entrance of a vote counting centre in Ho
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The centrepiece of Sogavare's embrace was a 2022 security pact that has seen rotating teams of Chinese police deployed in the archipe
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The United States and Australia -- two of Solomon Islands' traditional security partners -- fear this pact could one day pave the way for a Chinese military
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Kenilorea, a former United Nations official, lamented his country's uneasy position in the middle of the world's two largest military and economic powers, China and the United St
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"We don't have natural enemies," he said.
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"It has put us on the map for the wrong reasons. To raise tensions unnecessarily here, in the geopolitical scheme of things, is something we don't really n
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- 'Blatantly misleading' -
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Ballots were trucked into a heavily guarded counting centre in the capital Honiara on Thursday morning, watched over by international teams of uniformed Fijian soldiers and Australian po
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Startling and unproven claims of foreign interference upped the ante for what was already billed as Solomon Islands' most crucial vote in a genera
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State-backed Chinese news outlets have pushed reports that the United States might orchestrate riots and unrest to block Sogavare from returning to p
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US Ambassador Ann Marie Yastishock has denounced such rumours as "blatantly misleading".
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"We strongly refute allegations being made in known propaganda outlets that claim USAID and the US Government has sought to influence the upcoming election in Solomon Islands," she said in a state
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If Sogavare fails in his bid to return as prime minister, it would not necessarily spell the end of China's ambitions in Solomon Isl
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While his most prominent rivals view Beijing with a mix of scepticism and alarm, there is no shortage of other candidates who are happy with the status
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China has paid tens of millions of dollars into a discretionary development fund used by Solomon Islands' politicians during the last term of government, according to Australian researc
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Critics suggest this fund was essentially a means to curry favour with key members of the govern
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- Backroom bargaining -
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Candidates have begun winging their way back to Honiara in anticipation of the backroom bartering that will decide the new govern
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Once the parliament's 50 members are decided, they will begin negotiating behind closed doors to cobble together a ruling coali
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Prolonged and secret discussions have stoked unrest in the past, as voters begin to suspect the involvement of foreign inter
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These election "camps" are often held inside the casino hotels that line the Honiara foreshore.
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"We might not know what is going to happen until a good two or three weeks after the election," Pacific watcher Graeme Smith from Australian National University told AFP in the lead-up to voting
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"It's a very unpredictable process. It comes down, essentially, to who is the most charismatic man in the r
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Election authorities and the sizable police presence roaming the streets of Honiara have so far kept a lid on possible sources of discon
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Chief electoral officer Jasper Anisi said Thursday that "everything is peaceful" -- no mean feat in a nation where elections have turned violent in the
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Election officials anticipate early results should start trickling in on Friday.