Editorial: Solomon Islands and Australian cant

The question of Taiwan's responsibility for last week's rioting in the Solomon Islands is an important one and worthy of investigation. It would be prudent for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) to grill its ambassador in Honiara, Antonio Chen (陳俊賢), on why the riots occurred and why Taiwan is being flayed in the international media.

If hearsay in the international press is to be believed, however, MOFA itself is the cause of the conflict. Loads of cash, so the theory goes, was sent to Snyder Rini to ensure his election as prime minister, meaning his rivals could not switch Honiara's allegiance to Beijing. The theory, however, is based in the perceptions of a destructive mob that couldn't tell the difference between Chinese, Taiwanese and Solomon Islanders of Chinese descent.

It's one thing for the press to speculate on the causes of the unrest; it's another for governments to level accusations at Taipei without providing any evidence, which is exactly what Australian Prime Minister John Howard, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, Justice Minister Chris Ellison and New Zealand Defense Minister Phil Goff have done.

Admittedly, criticism from New Zealand -- which is more grounded in Austronesian culture than Australia, and whose government has ministers prepared to publicly support Taiwan -- has resonance. And "dollar diplomacy" is a distasteful and corrosive problem. Yet it will be hard to stamp out as long as China blocks Taiwan from entering into diplomatic relations with who it chooses. That is the reality.

But criticism from Australia is laughable. Howard and Downer, dealers in "evidence" of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, ought to furnish proof of Taipei's mischief, or else their accusations can be assumed to have motives other than improving fraternity with Melanesia. Canberra's scapegoating has obscured its own astounding inability to predict and -- through Australian-led peacekeepers -- contain unrest stemming from widespread dissatisfaction with the winning candidate.

On Wednesday, in the presence of Chinese Ambassador to Australia Fu Ying (傅瑩), Downer implied that Taiwan and China had indulged in corrupting activity, so selective criticism seemed to have become less the order of the day. But Downer's waffling was risible: "Has that happened? Allegations have been made that has happened. Those allegations will no doubt be investigated if it's believed by the police that they are allegations that have substance."

If Fu took the slightest notice of Downer, it wasn't apparent the next day, when Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang (秦剛) lashed out at Taiwan for "grossly and wantonly promot[ing] dollar diplomacy." And so the charade goes on.

Before Canberra scolds Taipei for its South Pacific maneuvering, it would do well to reflect on its own conduct in relation to Papua New Guinea (endless aid to what effect?), East Timor (where Downer's lust for oil trumped civility toward a battered new nation) and most notoriously Nauru, where a hopeless government was bought off with at least 20 million Aussie-minted "diplomacy dollars" to detain bona fide asylum seekers.

For strategic and moral reasons, MOFA must ground its relations with other countries in things more enduring and conspicuous than gifts of cash. But "dollar diplomacy," even if implicated in this instance, is marginal in explaining the Solomon Islands' predicament.