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Divided Isles: Solomon Islands and the China Switch, Book Launch - Hosted by the AIIA Queensland and the McKell Institute
Join us either in-person or online as Ed Cavanough, CEO of the McKell Institute presents his most recent book "Divided Isles: Solomon Islands and the China Switch" in an interview with Associate Professor, Tess Newton Cain from Griffith University .
If you are attending in-person, please arrive at Holding Redlich at 5.30pm for registration and drinks. This event will be available online. After registering, on November 13th you will receive a follow-up confirmation email containing further details on how to join the webinar which will commence at 6pm AEST. The event is free for AIIA Queensland members and AIIA members from all states. Non-members pay $10 and student non-members $5.
If you arrive after 6pm, the lifts may not be accessible. Ring 0403 777 541 for assistance.
In 2019, Solomon Islands made international headlines when the country severed its decades-old alliance with Taiwan in exchange for a partnership with Beijing. The decision prompted international condemnation and terrified Australian security experts, who feared Australia's historical Pacific advantage would come unstuck.
This development is often framed as another example of China's inevitable capture of the region – but this misrepresents how and why the decision was made, and how Solomon Islanders have skilfully leveraged global angst over China to achieve extraordinary gains. Despite Solomon Islands' importance to Australia, local readers know little about the country, a fragile island-nation stretching over a thousand islands and speaking seventy indigenous languages.
In Divided Isles, Edward Cavanough explains how the switch played out on the ground and its extraordinary potential consequences. He speaks with the dissidents and politicians who shape Solomon Islands' politics, and to the ordinary people whose lives have been upended by a decision that has changed the country – and the region – forever.
