Bearing that in mind, China and Taiwan both started pumping aid for diplomatic recognition to the newly de-colonised nations around the world particularly to the small island nations of the Pacific. The newly independent nations were in desperate need for foreign assistance to address their burgeoning socio-economic needs. This Sino-Taiwan diplomatic soft war coincided with the wind of decolonisation that was sweeping through the developing and underdeveloped world.

The US also encouraged its allies Japan and Germany to engage more with China, so much so, that during 1970s Japan was ChinaвЂ™s biggest foreign aid donor constructing airports, seaports, railways, roads and hydropower dams (Nowak, 2015).ДЇurthermore, as the UN permanent seat and veto right was bestowed upon PRC, Taiwan fought back and intensified its diplomatic competition with China by providing development aid to cash-starved countries around the world in return for diplomatic recognition. Thus, the US reduced its level of cooperation with Taiwan and increased it with China. The US and its allies also recognised PRC in a bid to isolate the Soviet Union. In 1971, however, ROC lost the UN Seat to PeopleвЂ™s Republic of China (PRC) by failing to gather enough international support and backing.

The Republic of China (ROC) enjoyed the luxury of occupying the UN Seat. Enjoying support from the United States, Taiwan continued to compete with China for diplomatic recognition globally (Atkinson, 2010). The Sino-Taiwan rivalry goes back to 1950s when the US intervened in Taiwan Strait following the Korean War and prevented the complete Chinese takeover of the island nation and annexing it to mainland China. Taiwan has equally been persistent in its pursuit of diplomatic recognition to garner international support through aid diplomacy. In 2017, China pledged US$4 billion to the island nations for high visibility infrastructure projects across the region (Lyons, 2018). It is believed that it will not take long for China to overtake Australia as the largest creditor to the region after it вЂњcommitted to spending more than four times as much as AustraliaвЂќ (Lyons, 2018). The two Asiatic economic giants have been appropriating colossal sums of their aid funds to the developing and least developed island nations for diplomatic recognition. 'But he's got a small group of politiciansВ around him who are protecting him.Over the past two decades, there has been an unprecedented growth and expansion in the level and magnitude of Sino-Taiwan aid competition in the Pacific region. 'There's a lot of people out there who really don't like him,' she said. 'They built the stadium here, they can see things being built fast, they've just announced they're going to work on the hospital - everyone here wants aВ hospital.'ДЄnd as for his future as Prime Minister?В According to Ms Wickham that one's 'hard to tell'. 'But people are yet to see anything really negative out of China's aid so far. 'And then there's people saying we should be careful, we've seen what China has done around the world, and Solomon Islands will be no different. 'Others say, 'well if China can give us something better, well, let's go with China - we're a sovereign country, we can do what we like'. 'The focus of some people are like 'big deal, we sign treaties all the time',' she said. Mr Batley, who has known Mr SogavareВ for more than two decades, said he witnessed 'emotional' outburstsВ from the Prime MinisterВ - then in his second stint - whoВ aggressively opposed the RAMSI intervention.

Mr Batley wasВ the leader of the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) from 2004 to 2006 - a 14-year peacekeeping mission led by Australia to quell ethnic violence, known as 'The Tensions'.ДЄfter helping to bring relative peace, RAMSI officially left the country in 2017.

The 67-year-oldВ Seventh-Day Adventist from the Choiseul region in the far north-west of Solomon IslandsВ is in his fourth stint as Prime Minister over a more than two-decadeВ political career.ДЄnd throughout those stintsВ he's hadВ a complicated relationship with Australia, and Australia's presence in the country.ДЇor former SolomonВ Islands high commissioner James Batley, one event sums upВ Mr Sogavare's malleability - and unpredictability -В as a politician. Mannaseh Sogavare is a political journeyman.

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