An Island Divided Over China, Taiwan, and the United States...
Natifnatal Says...
An Island Divided Over China, Taiwan, and the United States and the similarities to Haiti
One day soon, Daniel Suidani, the former premier of Malaita Province, Solomon Islands, will walk into his interview for a U.S. short-term visa. Again.
His first application, a few weeks ago, was denied.
This second attempt is being supported by a bipartisan cross-section of heavy-hitters in the U.S. Congress, including Congressman Neal Dunn M.D. (R-Florida), Congressman Ed Case (D-Hawaii, co-chair of the Pacific Islands Caucus) and Congresswoman Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen (R-American Samoa, Co-Chair Pacific Islands Caucus).
The denial of the first application was a surprise.
According to Dunn, one of the first to raise concerns on the issue: "The denial of Daniel Suidani's VISA application is suspicious and unusual.
Mr. Suidani displayed tremendous courage in barring CCP-linked companies from his providence while serving as Premier.
He should be welcomed to the U.S. with open arms, not with more hurdles.
I support his decision to reapply, and I look forward to assisting him through this process."
DIPLOMAT BRIEF
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At the March 23 House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee hearing on the Indo-Pacific, Radewagen submitted a question to State Department witness Jane Bocklage about the status of the application.
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And, on March 31, Radewagen and Case sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Blinken that reads in part: "Having had his application turned down once, we strongly encourage the timely issuance of the visa. Please provide your full and fair consideration of this request consistent with all applicable laws, rules, and regulations."
Why so much attention on a visa case for a former provincial premier from a country of less than a million people?
It's because rarely does a single person come to embody the future of a region, of the battle between systems, as much as Suidani has.
A bit of background.
In April 2019 Manasseh Sogavare became the prime minister of Solomon Islands.
In September, 2019, he switched Solomons' diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China.
In October 2019, Daniel Suidani, premier of Solomons' most populous province, Malaita and backed by the rest of the provincial leadership including the traditional chiefs, issued the "Auki Communiqué," calling for a moratorium on CCP-linked businesses operating in the province.
The communiqué expressed concern about development that would negatively effect the province socially, economically, environmentally, and politically, adding Malaitans recognize "freedom of religion as a fundamental right...
therefore [the Malaitan provincial government] rejects the CCP and its formal systems based on atheist ideology."
The Auki Communiqué represented not only a threat to the economic exploitation plans of Sogavare, his clique, and China, it was a direct calling out of the CCP and its domestic persecution of people of faith - to the point, according to the U.S. government, of genocide in the case of Turkic Muslims.
While intended just as a provincial policy, it was a remarkable drawing of a line in the sand that called attention to the silence and acquiescence of
Posted April 2 2023 at 4:41 PM
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