Daniel Suidani is a

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capita ...

politician serving as the Premier of

Malaita Province Malaita Province is the most populous and one of the largest of the nine provinces of Solomon Islands. It is named after its largest island, Malaita (also known as "Big Malaita" or "Maramapaina"). Other islands include South Malaita Island ...

since June 2019.

Tenure

During Suidani's tenure as Premier of Malaita Province, the Solomon Islands government officially switched diplomatic recognition from the

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...

(Taiwan) to the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. Suidani was highly critical of this decision, alleging that the Chinese government offered bribes to him in exchange for political allegiance. Suidani has in turn been accused of accepting bribes from the Taiwanese government. In 2020, Suidani held an independence referendum for Malaita Province, which was dismissed as illegitimate by the central government. In October 2021, a motion of no confidence was filed against Suidani, but was withdrawn after protests erupted in support of him. He condemned international interference in the November 2021 Solomon Islands unrest.

References

Solomon Islands politicians Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 21st-century politicians {{Solomons-politician-stub