For a movement that loves to say it’s outside of politics, the Pacific Games, a $450 million regional event for Pacific island countries, which first ran in 1963, is yet another sporting event under the larger Olympic umbrella that keeps getting caught up in geopolitical agendas.
The 2023 Pacific Games will be held from Nov. 19 to Dec. 2 in Honiara, Solomon Islands, a small island archipelago close to Papua New Guinea that’s become increasingly entangled in the contest for influence in the Pacific between the West and China. It will be the first time the country hosts the full-fledged Pacific Games, after hosting a scaled-down version aptly called the Pacific Mini Games in 1981—and it’s become another chance for Beijing to show its support for the islands.
Last year, China and the Solomon Islands signed a controversial security deal that could bring Chinese ships into the country. The political opposition has accused the government of using Beijing-backed security forces for intimidation and repression. While the islands have a population of just around 700,000 people, its location makes it a potential key spot for U.S. supply lines from Australia to Taiwan, especially in the event of a China-Taiwan conflict.
Taipei and Beijing thus ended up, at times, both offering to underwrite the Pacific Games, hoping to build influence not just in the Solomon Islands but throughout the region. While the countries participating, mostly island nations themselves, are relatively small, the Games serve as a regional Olympic qualifier for multiple sports, allowing certain teams to enter the Olympics if they perform well. The draw of qualifying spots is enough to bring athletes from regional powers such as Australia and New Zealand as well as smaller countries, bolstering the importance of the venue.
Since many of the countries are developing economies, hosts often welcome foreign donations to improve facilities, according to Andrew Minogue, chief executive of the Pacific Games Council (PGC).
“The PGC is always grateful to any donor country for its support,” Minogue told Foreign Policy, which allows all 22 members of the PGC to have a shot at hosting any of its flagship events.
For the Solomon Islands, that support originally came from Taipei. When Honiara bid to host this year’s Games in 2016, the Solomon Islands remained one of the few countries in the world to diplomatically recognize Taiwan as an independent country. In 2017, the two countries signed a bilateral agreement that would have Taiwan fund the main stadium for the Games, a signal of the ongoing diplomatic ties.
Two years later, however, newly returned to office Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare reversed the country’s long-standing diplomatic policy and recognized Beijing.
The move proved fortuitous for the Pacific Games, as Beijing footed the bill for seven sports facilities as part of the 2023 Pacific Games Stadium Project. The project was part of Beijing’s “China Aid” program, the foreign branding used on behalf of the China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA).
The China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation ultimately won the contract for the site, and the completed venues are expected to be handed over in full in May, following the transfer of some previously completed sites. Chinese state media has said that nearly 700 workers were tasked with building the site and that projects were delayed due to unexploded mines from the Guadalcanal campaign from World War II.
“It is the first large-scale construction project since the two countries established diplomatic relations. The construction became even harder due to the limited time frame and the disruption in logistics because of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Huang Pengfei, an engineer on the project, was quoted as saying in Xinhua.
But it’s unclear exactly how much the project has cost. Requests for comment from the Games Organizing Committee, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from the Solomon Islands, the 2023 Pacific Games Stadium Project, CIDCA, and the People’s Republic of China State Council Information Office were not returned.
According to Minogue, the PGC is “not privy” to all the bilateral agreements that governments sign to fund the Pacific Games, since they are outside the council’s remit. However, he did estimate that the number China invested in Honiara 2023 is more than the $12 million (nearly 100 million Solomon Islands dollars, or SBD) Australia was confirmed to have donated and the $11.36 million (93 million SBD) Papua New Guinea promised.
In total, Minogue said $146.1 million (1.2 billion SBD) is expected to be donated for the 2023 Pacific Games from countries around the world. That includes the money for the construction of the main stadium complex, which also includes a warm-up track, an indoor facility to be used as the athletes’ dining hall, an aquatics complex, a hockey field and tennis courts, the Friendship Hall indoor facility, a water sports park, a soccer academy and fields, and university accommodation blocks and refurbishment of existing schools to house the athletes.
In a country where politics are often contentious and sometimes violent, Chinese influence has proved to be another point of conflict—and so have the Games. Malaita, the country’s most populous province, has remained ardently opposed to Beijing, in part because of existing conflicts with the central government. The realities of smaller countries hosting large sporting events will be felt in the months after athletes leave Honiara. The Solomon Islands were due to have an election in 2023, but Sogavare pushed it back to 2024, claiming it was because of the costs of staging the Pacific Games. While the opposition called the move a power grab, Sogavare defended it as necessary to present the country’s most stable face while hosting the Pacific community.
Outside the Solomon Islands, China’s growing role has been noticed by other powers, especially Washington and Canberra. The United States is reportedly reopening consular services in Honiara, reviving a dormant consular presence on the island that was shuttered in 1993, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
“The United States needs a permanent diplomatic presence in Honiara to effectively provide a counterweight to growing (Chinese) influence and deepen our engagement with the region commensurate with its importance,” a notice from the U.S. State Department to Congress said in a report from The Associated Press.
The State Department was unable to respond to multiple requests for comment about the future of the Honiara consulate by the time of publication.
Meg Keen, director of the Lowy Institute Pacific Islands program in Sydney, said to Foreign Policy that reopening a consular presence in Honiara is “an important and significant development as it demonstrates the renewed commitment to the region.”
“In the Pacific islands, people-to-people relationships are highly valued,” Keen added. “The U.S. needs to have a presence in the Solomon Islands to demonstrate commitment and rebuild personal and country-to-country relations.”
Australia remains the largest foreign development partner—by a significant margin—to the Solomon Islands, contributing more than $2 billion to the country since 2008, according to numbers compiled by the Lowy Institute. While Chinese investment has risen sharply since Honiara’s diplomatic stance shifted, Australia has deep ties to the region.
This includes Australia’s well-funded sports diplomacy arm, which aims to “identify targeted opportunities to strengthen diplomatic and economic relationships through sport across the Indo-Pacific,” according to its 2030 plan.
“Australians are extremely enthusiastic about their sport and have a long history of assisting the Pacific islands with capacity-building for sport,” Keen said. “This is an area of strength for Australia for which they have a longer and deeper history of engagement than China.”
Australia will send 75 athletes competing in eight sports to Honiara, according to the Australian Olympic Committee. Two of those sports—boxing and archery—will be direct Olympic qualifiers, and with the country hosting the 2032 Summer Olympics, these shows of solidarity will only deepen.
Once the Games leave town, it may be the Solomon Island voters themselves who decide which great power will keep playing.