Suidani reiterates position: Malaita will not accept any investments from China

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Malaita Province today reiterates its stand that it will not accept any investments from the Peoples Republic of China—as captured in the Auki Communique.

Malaita Province’s response comes after a senior official from the Chinese official told the Solomon Star today that: “Our commitment to Solomon Islands in particular Guadalcanal, Malaita and Western Provinces is to offer equal long term development.”

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But in a prompt response, Malaita Premier Daniel Suidani reiterates that as the premier of Malaita province he would like to inform the communities of Malaita that under the Auki Communique the MARA government “will not accept any investments from the People’s Republic of China – PRC”.

He adds that has been the decision and will continue to be the stand of the Malaita MARA Government.

The premier said that in a number of meetings with the national government he made it plain and clear that Malaita Province stands by the Auki Communique.

“The premier would like to further inform the public that his government is working to have a second version of the Communique and that will include the participation of the traditional leaders and chiefs of Malaita. The second version aims to include the signatures of the chiefs and traditional leaders of Malaita province,” Suidani said in a statement today.

Malaita Province is only one of the provinces in the country that does not recognize China after the government switched diplomatic ties to PRC from the Republic of China (Taiwan last year).

“The premier would like to remind Mr Ming (Chinese Counselor of the People’s Republic of Chinese Embassy in Solomon Islands) that he has no right to talk about the development of Malaita province. “He is a representative of China and not Malaita province. He must know that he is a guest in Solomon Islands and can only allow to do things that are agreed to by the people of the place and Malaita province is not one of the places. This must be made clear to him,” said Suidani.