In-depth Solomons – Evening Report

China’s growing grip on the fragile Solomon Islands media sector

Asia Pacific Report — Thu, 19 Mar 2026 13:15:06 +0000

SPECIAL REPORT: Reporters Without Borders

Since the Solomon Islands established diplomatic relations with China in 2019, the Pacific country has become a strategic arena for Beijing’s influence.

By capitalising on the economic fragility of the local media sector, China has stepped up conditional funding, editorial partnerships and influence programmes to disseminate its narratives.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls on the Solomon Islands’ government to make the viability and independence of the media sector a priority.

One day in January 2024, Lloyd Loji, publisher of the Island Sun, one of the country’s leading dailies, reportedly received a call from a Chinese diplomat.

According to the investigative outlet In-depth Solomons, the diplomat expressed the embassy’s “concern” about an op-ed published that same day on the election of the new president of Taiwan and its implications for relations between China and Western countries.

At the end of the call, the Chinese diplomat explicitly asked the newspaper to relay articles he had sent, reflecting Beijing’s official position on regional affairs.

The Island Sun op-ed on 15 January 2024 that led to censorship as reported by In-Depth Solomons. Image: Island Sun/In-Depth Solomons

The Chinese diplomat did not stop at interfering in the editorial line of the Island Sun.

In-depth Solomons reports that he also emailed the owners and editors of the country’s main media outlets, urging them to adopt the Chinese narrative on the Taiwanese elections and sharing two articles he asked them to publish.

The Solomon Star, the other major daily of the Solomon Islands, duly published the articles supplied by the Chinese embassy. Both the Solomon Star and Island Sun depend on Chinese funding as the country’s media landscape is facing structural economic difficulties.

Economic precarity as Beijing’s gateway
With fewer than 700,000 inhabitants and a limited advertising market — which is increasingly dominated by social media companies — news organisations in this nation face structural economic hardship.

These vulnerabilities deepened during the covid-19 pandemic and the collapse of traditional press revenues which mostly consist of advertising, making external funding essential to survival, whether from Australia, China or the United States.

Unlike support from other foreign partners, Chinese assistance often comes with editorial conditions.

After 15 years as a journalist in the Solomon Islands, Priestley Habru — now a PhD candidate at the University of Adelaide — told RSF about the demands made by the Chinese embassy to Island Sun after he left the outlet. According to his network, after the diplomatic mission donated computers, the newsroom was instructed to “stop publishing articles on Taiwan’s President.”

An investigation by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), an international investigative journalism network, also revealed that in 2022 the Solomon Star sought SI$1.15 million (about US$140,000) from China to modernise its infrastructure, pledging in return to promote Beijing’s image as the islands’ “most generous and trustworthy” partner.

Following revelations about attempts by Chinese diplomats to directly interfere with the Island Sun and the country’s leading media outlets in early 2024, Beijing appears to have adopted a more discreet approach.

Ofani Eremae, president of the Media Association of Solomon Islands (MASI), explained to RSF that several local outlets have signed agreements with Chinese state media to use the state media’s content — which is fully controlled by the Chinese authorities — free of charge.

In early 2026, CCTV+, China’s state-owned international video news service, also offered MASI and In-depth Solomons use of its raw video footage and live broadcast signals free of charge, and invited them to sign cooperation agreements. Both In-depth Solomons and MASI have not yet responded to the proposal.

“The authorities of the Solomon Islands must take immediate, concrete action to safeguard the country’s media landscape from undue influence by China and to ensure the conditions necessary for genuine editorial independence,” said Aleksandra Bielakowska, advocacy manager of RSF Asia-Pacific.

“This includes establishing transparent and sustainable financial support mechanisms that fully respect press freedom — because only a media environment free from political or economic coercion can allow newsrooms to operate with integrity and independence.”

All-expenses-paid trips to China
Since 2019, at least 30 of MASI’s 70 member journalists have been invited to China, sometimes more than once, according to Eremae.

These visits fully funded by Beijing are designed to showcase the country’s economic achievements, the workings of its media system, and, ultimately, to encourage participants to adopt and relay official Chinese discourse.

“The authorities’ aim is to show how advanced China is — a great country that has developed enormously in recent years — and to explain how their media operate,” Ofani Eremae said.

In June 2025, four journalists attended a two-week seminar in Beijing organised by the National Radio and Television Administration, a state body controlled by the Chinese Propaganda Department and responsible for ensuring that programmes align with the regime’s political line.

Eremae says he has received similar invitations, but he turned them down due to work commitments. Chinese influence also extends to institutions: according to Eremae, nearly 90 percent of officials in the government unit responsible for communication and press relations have taken at least one official trip to China since 2019.

A grave decline in press freedom
This rapprochement between China and the Solomon Islands has been accompanied by a marked deterioration in the media climate, particularly during the fourth term of former prime minister Manasseh Sogavare (2019–2024), accused of fostering hostility towards the press.

“The very close relationship Sogavare maintained with China influenced the way he dealt with the media,” Eremae explained.

After signing a controversial security agreement with Beijing in 2022 —which was never made public — journalists faced strict restrictions during an official Chinese visit. Weeks later, the government threatened to bar foreign reporters from entering the country after Australia’s public broadcaster, ABC, aired an investigation on Chinese influence in the country.

Sogavare, who repeatedly praised Chinese governance, also appeared to draw inspiration from its policy of controlling information.

This was evident in the reform of the status of the publicly owned media group Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation (SIBC) — the only shortwave radio broadcaster across the archipelago’s 900 islands — placing it under the direct authority of the Prime Minister’s Office.

The restructuring was accompanied by disturbing instructions to censor content critical of the government.

China is the world’s biggest jailer of journalists, with 121 currently detained, and ranks 178th out of 180 countries and territories in the 2025 RSF World Press Freedom Index.

Republished from Reporters Without Borders by Pacific Media Watch.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

‘Dear media friends’ – China interferes in Honiara media over Taiwan, reveals In-depth Solomons

Asia Pacific Report — Mon, 22 Jan 2024 21:18:19 +0000

By Ronald Toito’ona and Charley Piringi in Honiara

China’s interference and moves to control the media in the Solomon Islands have been exposed in leaked emails In-depth Solomons has obtained.

On Monday last week [15 January 2024], Huangbi Lin, a diplomat working at the Chinese Embassy in Honiara, called the owner of Island Sun newspaper, Lloyd Loji, and expressed the embassy’s “concern” in a viewpoint article that the paper published on page 6 of the day’s issue.

The article, which appeared earlier in an ABC publication, was about Taiwan’s newly-elected president William Lai Ching-te, and what his victory means to China and the West.

Lin’s phone call and his embassy’s concern was revealed in an email Loji wrote to the editorial staff of Island Sun, which In-depth Solomons has cited. Loji wrote:

“I had received a call this morning from Lin (Chinese Embassy) raising their concern on the ABC publication on today’s issue, page 6.

“Yesterday, he had sent us a few articles regarding China’s stance on the elections taking place in Taiwan which he wanted us to publish.

“Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Solomon Islands) made a press release (as attached) reaffirming Solomon Island’s position with regards to the Taiwan elections (recognition of one China principle).

“Let us align ourselves according to the position in which our country stands.

“Be mindful of our publication since China is also a supporter of Island Sun.

“Please collaborate on this matter and (be) cautious of the news that we publish especially with regards to Taiwan’s election.”

Loji has not responded to questions In-depth Solomons sent to him for comments.

The day before on Sunday, Lin sent an email to owners and editors of Solomons Islands’ major news outlets, asking for their cooperation in their reporting of the Taiwanese election outcome. His email said:

“Dear media friends.

“As the result of the election in the Taiwan region of the People’s Republic of China being revealed, a few media reports are trying to cover it from incorrect perspectives.

“The Embassy of the People’s Republic of China would like to remind that both inappropriate titles on newly-elected Taiwan leaders and incorrect name on the Taiwan region are against the one-China policy and the spirit of UN resolution 2758.”

In the same email, he also sent two articles from the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China on the results of the Taiwan elections.

He requested that the articles be published in the next day’s papers.

None of the two articles appeared in the Island Sun the next day, but the paper eventually published them on Tuesday.

The Solomon Star featured both articles, along with a government statement issued at the behest of the Chinese Embassy, on its front page.

Lin failed to respond to questions In-depth Solomons sent to him for comments.

Taiwan has been Solomons Islands’ diplomatic ally until 2019 when Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare ditched Taiwan for China.

In the last two years, China has provided both financial support and thousands of dollars’ worth of office and media equipment to the Island Sun and Solomon Star.

China’s reported manipulation of news outlets around the Pacific has been a topic of discussion in recent years. The communist nation is one of the worst countries in the world for media freedom. It ranks 177 on the Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index.

Responding to the incident, the Media Association of Solomon Islands (MASI) has urged China to respect the independence of the media.

“This incident is regrettable,” MASI President Georgina Kekea told In-depth Solomons.

“Any attempts to control or manipulate the media compromise the public’s right to information,” Kekea added.

“Despite the one-China Policy, China must respect the rights of Solomon Islanders in their own country.

“The situation shows the big difference between the values of the Solomon Islands and China. Respect goes both ways.

“Chinese representatives working in Solomon Islands must remember that Solomon Islands is a democratic country with values different to that of their own country and no foreign policy should ever dictate what people can and cannot do in their own country.”

Kekea further added that it was disheartening to hear interference by diplomatic partners in the day-to-day operations of an independent newsroom.

She said in a democratic country like Solomon Islands, it was crucial that the autonomy of newsrooms remained intact, and free from any external government influence on editorial decisions.

Kekea also urged Solomon Islands newsroom leaders to be vigilant and not allow outsiders to dictate their news content.

“There are significant long-term consequences if we allow outsiders to dictate our decisions.

“Solomon Islands is a democratic country, with the media serving as the fourth pillar of democracy.

“It is crucial not to permit external influences in directing our course of action.”

Kekea also highlighted the financial struggles news organisations in Solomon Islands face and the financial assistance they’ve received from external donors.

She pointed out that this sort of challenge arose when news organisations lacked the financial capacity to look after themselves.

“The concern is not exclusive to China but extends to all external support.

“It is essential to acknowledge and appreciate the funding support received but there should be limits.

“We must enable the media to fulfil its role independently. Gratitude for funding support should not translate into allowing external entities to exploit us for their own agenda or geopolitical struggles.

“Media is susceptible to the influence of major powers. Thus, we must try as much as possible to not get ourselves into a position that we cannot get out of.

“It is important to keep our independence. We must try as much as possible to be self-reliant. To work hard and not rely solely on external partners for funding support.

“If we are not careful, we might lose our freedom.”

Republished by arrangement with In-Depth Solomons.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz