China Skeptic to Lead Solomon Islands After Pact With Beijing

The streets of downtown Honiara, Solomon Islands.Photographer: Mavis Podokolo/Getty Images

The Solomon Islands, a small Pacific nation caught in the China and US competition, elected a new prime minister seen as less friendly to Beijing than his predecessors.

The archipelago nation became the center of geopolitical attention in 2022 when then-Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare signed a security pact with China, provoking alarm in Washington and in neighboring Canberra.