HONAIRA, Solomon Islands: Solomon Islanders will head to the polls this week, voting in an election that promises to bolster or blunt China's regional ambitions, with security consequences that will ripple far beyond the Pacific nation's palm-fringed shores.

The archipelago, one of the world's least-developed countries, is the unlikely focal point of a diplomatic scramble pitting a rising China against Western rivals.

Solomon Islands has veered into China's orbit under Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare, who inked a secret security pact with Beijing in 2022.

Sogavare has vowed to deepen these bonds if reelected.

His challengers, meanwhile, are deeply skeptical of Beijing's influence in the archipelago.

"Everyone knows this election is going to be very closely watched by the United States, by China and by other Pacific island countries," said Solomon Islands expert Anouk Ride from Australian National University.

"It feels like the pressure is on."

The former British colony gained independence in 1978, establishing diplomatic relations with Taiwan as one of its earliest foreign partners.

But those long-standing ties were abruptly junked in 2019 when a freshly installed Sogavare gave his full-throated backing to Beijing's "One China" stance.

A wave of Chinese aid and investment followed, including tens of millions of dollars for a state-of-the-art medical center and a 10,000-seat athletics stadium.

In 2022, Solomon Islands signed a surprise security pact with Beijing, catching traditional partners Australia and the United States off guard.

Although the final details are murky, the Western allies fear the pact is the first step toward a permanent Chinese military base in the South Pacific — something that could be a game changer for security in the region.

China already maintains a small but conspicuous police presence in the nation, sending a revolving cadre of officers to train locals in shooting, riot tactics and martial arts.

Solomon Islands still bear the scars of the last time they were wedged between two chest-beating major powers.

Japan and the United States fought savagely over the Solomons at the height of World War II, littering it with unexploded bombs that still take lives today.

Elections are always boisterous, often tumultuous and sometimes violent in the nation of around 720,000 people.

Sogavare's main rivals include Peter Kenilorea, a former United Nations lawyer who is akin to political royalty on the Solomon Islands.

His father, Peter Kenilorea senior, was the nation's first prime minister after independence.

Matthew Wale, a chartered accountant and longtime human rights campaigner, is another prominent opposition figure.

Both Wale and Kenilorea have been sharply critical of the China security pact, signaling a possible change in direction if Sogavare loses.

Sogavare has been Solomon Islands' dominant political figure of the past 20 years, holding the top office on four separate occasions since 2000.

But Sogavare's grip on power is far from absolute.

His embrace of Beijing in 2019 partly fueled a wave of anti-government riots that tore through the Chinatown district in the capital Honiara.

While foreign diplomats sweat over the geopolitical consequences of the election, locals will be more consumed by creeping poverty and the paucity of jobs.

Solomon Islands ranks in the bottom quarter of the United Nations' Human Development Index — one spot above Haiti and several below war-torn Myanmar.

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