PRC buys ‘goodwill’ with Solomon Islands newspaper contribution
FORUM Staff
The cost of a new printer and radio broadcast tower has bought the People’s Republic of China (PRC) a promise of favorable coverage in the Solomon Islands’ leading newspaper, an investigation has found. The deal follows a secretive security pact signed by the countries in 2022 and the island nation switching its diplomatic allegiance from self-governed Taiwan to the PRC in 2019, a move encouraged by Beijing.
Despite the almost $140,000 contribution, Solomon Star editors told the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) that the newspaper will maintain its independence. A leaked document and interviews, however, provided “repeated and explicit assurances that it [the newspaper] would push messages favorable to Beijing,” the global investigative network reported in July 2023.
The agreement aligns with a Chinese strategy to gain influence and is part of the PRC’s plan to co-opt news media in foreign countries, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported in August 2023. It reflects communist political ideology that requires media loyalty to the state rather than to society, as democracies advocate.
The PRC ranked next to last in Reporters Without Borders’ annual assessment of press freedom in 180 nations and territories. The World Press Freedom Index released in May 2023 describes the PRC as “the world’s biggest jailer of journalists and one of the biggest exporters of propaganda content.” Only North Korea was worse.
The PRC’s arrangement with the Solomon Star reflects Chinese Communist Party (CCP) General Secretary Xi Jinping’s call to “tell China stories well” worldwide, RFA reported. Beijing influences news coverage elsewhere in Oceania, particularly among the Chinese diaspora. In New Zealand, for example, the CCP uses cash, diplomacy and boycotts to ensure friendly news coverage in ethnic Chinese communities, the news service reported. The Chinese diaspora in Malaysia also is targeted. A Palauan newspaper publisher’s deal with a company linked to Chinese police and military fell through, the OCCRP reported.
Newspapers in the Indo-Pacific and beyond are contending with online competition, limited advertising revenue, marginal profits and challenging economies of scale, RFA reported. Beijing takes advantage of the industry’s financial troubles to spread its message.
Alfred Sasako, the Star’s chief of staff, said the newspaper sought support elsewhere before the PRC contribution. He dismissed criticism of the deal and castigated those who “demonize China,” the OCCRP reported.
The newspaper sought financial help from the Chinese embassy in Honiara in 2022, the OCCRP reported. After the Star repeatedly promised to promote the PRC’s “goodwill” and role as “the most generous and trusted development partner” in the Solomon Islands, Beijing provided funding to replace an aging printer and buy a broadcast tower for the newspaper’s affiliated radio station, the team reported.
The arrangement raised concern in the Solomon Islands and elsewhere. A Star journalist said the newsroom also received a car, cameras, laptops, mobile phones and a drone from the PRC and Chinese media partners. “In return we were told to be a bit more sensitive when covering China issues,” the journalist told The Guardian newspaper in August 2023.
The Island Sun, another Solomon Islands newspaper, received computers from the Chinese embassy, the publication’s former editor, Ofani Eremae, told The Guardian. “The owners of the media organization are giving away the independence of their news organization,” he said.
