A smoking gun in the Solomons proves information shaping by China

By Cleo Paskal

It started on June 14, when two news sites in the Solomon Islands published the exact same article, right down to the same clunky headline. The only thing that differed was the name of the author.

According to Solomon Star, Oliver Brown wrote the article titled: “Lai Ching-te visited Eswatini: It’s time for Palau to change its diplomatic relations with Taiwan.” According to In-depth Solomons, the author was William Crawley.

What might look like a minor discrepancy in local South Pacific media is actually our geopolitical smoking gun. Who pulled the trigger, where was it aimed and why? Let’s start detecting.

The article compares two countries that recognize Taiwan—Eswatini and Palau—to try to make the case that Palau should abandon Taiwan, especially in the lead-up to the Pacific Islands Forum meeting Palau is hosting at the end of August. India will be there as a Forum dialogue partner.

The article uses, at best, misinformation to make its case. For example, it reads: “Taiwan’s medical assistance to Palau is mainly limited to sending rotating teams of doctors and providing small medical equipment, rather than constructing hospital buildings.”

That’s because it’s not necessary—the United States has committed to building a new hospital in Palau (which has a population of around 18,000).

Meanwhile, the article doesn’t mention that Palau has been on the receiving end of serious Chinese Triad criminal activity, including by some with Chinese Communist Party links. Or that Taiwan helps in a wide range of ways, including a recent announcement made by Taiwan’s Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim that Taiwan would send Investigation Bureau personnel to help Palau combat transnational crime.

The article ends with a threat. It says the PIF Leaders Meeting (PIFLM) is “a great opportunity for Palau to reassess its diplomatic relations with Taiwan… [Palau] should secure greater benefits for its own country and the region, rather than blindly pursuing its own interests and becoming a casualty in great power competition.” Casualty?

The Solomon Islands has been on the front line of Chinese political warfare for years, resulting in the country’s switch in recognition from Taiwan to China in 2019. Since then, it has been turbocharged, including with the signing of a security pact with China in 2022.

A recent change of government in the Solomons has resulted in an effort to exert more sovereignty and broaden engagement. The new Prime Minister has already visited Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Fiji, and has imminent trips planned to Washington and Japan.

The fact that this is playing out in the Solomon Islands' media is especially resonant, as it demonstrates China’s continued reach in the Solomon Islands despite political shifts.

As for the news sites themselves, in 2023, it was reported by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project that Solomon Star requested around $137,000 from the Chinese Embassy in the Solomon Islands for equipment so that it could continue to report on China’s “goodwill” and China’s role as “the most generous and trusted development partner” in the Solomon Islands. That equipment was subsequently purchased.

So, the fact that Solomon Star would print pro-Chinese propaganda was not a surprise. However, “In-depth Solomons” has an excellent reputation for reporting, including breaking a story about the Solomon Islands’ minister of police having a shell company in Singapore with a Chinese partner.

When contacted by The Sunday Guardian, In-depth Solomons did an internal investigation, confirmed there was a problem and took the article down.

So, who are Oliver Brown and/or William Crawley—the two men listed in the different publications as the authors of the same article?

According to IDS, the article was sent to them by someone they didn’t know, via an Australian WhatsApp number (in both publications the author is identified as being in Australia). They can’t even confirm if he exists.

Ofani Eremae, editor of In-depth Solomons, told The Sunday Guardian: “As far as IDS is concerned, we pulled the article down because the writer is not genuine, as well as not honest. We encourage a plurality of voices in our publications. But those who want to use our outlet to share their views or contribute to local, regional or international issues must do so using their real names.”

Meanwhile, Solomon Star has since published two more pieces by “William Crowley” attacking and threatening Pacific island countries that recognize Taiwan.

One reads: “If Palau disregards the fundamental diplomatic positions of the majority of member countries and forcibly brings Taiwan into the PIFLM, it will inevitably create unnecessary factional divisions among member states, potentially leading to paralysis in multilateral dialogue.”

Note, in spite of Beijing’s continuing efforts, Taiwan is still a formal Development Partner of the PIF, so there is no “force” involved. Also, this is essentially another threat: “don’t invite Taiwan or China will make sure you can’t get anything done."

The most recent Solomon Star article by “William Crawley” expands the pressure no another of Taiwan’s Pacific partners, Tuvalu. It will be interesting to see if the next one covers Taiwan’s third Pacific partner, the Marshall Islands.

It is relatively easy to get things published in part because Pacific media, even (especially) when honest, is often understaffed, stretched thin and in need of content.

An interesting twist is the insistence on an "Australian" identity for the mysterious writer. Perhaps the thinking is that it gives more credibility. In which case they haven’t read much Australian media.

What we are seeing is a concerted effort by opaque actors, facilitated by local proxies, to place articles that spread lies about Taiwan and put pressure on its allies. From there, those articles can be amplified in regional media, fed into AI, spread through social media, etc. This is consistent with China’s massive United Front operation, which includes information shaping.

The Chinese Communist Party calls it cognitive domain warfare. Xi Jinping himself has stated: “The crumbling of a regime always starts in the realm of ideas. Changing the way people think is a long-term process. Once the front lines of human thought have been broken through, other defensive lines also become harder to defend.”

The specific target of these attacks is telling. Countries that recognize Taiwan are a standard target. For all the talk of the “Pacific Way” at the inauguration of the president of Palau, the only Pacific leaders who attended were from other countries that recognize Taiwan, as well as the prime minister of Papua New Guinea (who shares the same faith as the president of Palau). None of the others showed up, possibly to avoid angering Beijing.

That said, it seems like the upcoming Pacific Islands Forum meeting in Palau is driving this concerted effort.

China has a track record of trying to ensure—directly and through proxies—that Taiwan’s role and visibility in PIF is limited, and ultimately erased.

Some examples:

In late 2020/early 2021, the position of secretary general of the PIF was up for election by PIF member states. The two leading candidates were Gerald Zackios, Marshall Islands ambassador to the U.S., and Cook Islands Prime Minister Henry Puna.

The secretary general position was supposed to rotate among regions (Polynesia, Micronesia and Melanesia). It was Micronesia’s turn. Marshall Islands is in Micronesia. So, by the PIF’s own customs, it should have gone to Zackios.

But that would mean the secretary general position would go to a country that recognizes Taiwan and a man who is well known and liked in DC. China was not pleased. It came down to a one-vote difference, and Puna (from a country that recognizes China) won.

From multiple accounts, Canberra voted for Puna.

This was such a betrayal; the five Micronesian countries left the PIF. They eventually rejoined—though one can’t be sure it really benefited anyone, except ultimately China.

At the 2024 PIF meeting, agreed language including Taiwan was removed from the final communique after pressure from China.

At the 2025 meeting in the Solomon Islands, the previous China-compliant Solomons government blocked access for Taiwan. To make it look “fair,” it then blocked all “dialogue and development partners” from attending, though with a massive Chinese embassy and deep ties on the ground in the Solomons, it functionally blocked India, the US, Taiwan, and others, but the ban didn’t much affect China.

For the 2026 PIF meeting in Palau, not only are the cognitive domain operations already underway (as shown by the articles), Chinese officials have also personally threatened high-level Palauans with retaliation unless Taiwanese participation is curtailed.

ADVERTISEMENT

I

t looks like the smoking gun was fired by China at Taiwan, and is hitting anything that stands in the way—especially the PIF meeting. This offers a unique opportunity. One rarely knows in advance when an attack is coming, but it’s hard to see how China won’t attack the PIF meeting in Palau in any way it can. 

We can expect broad, well-funded, relentless attacks on Palau/PIF. There will be cyber, but much more as well—from all different angles.

This is a perfect opportunity to mount a “political warfare rapid response team” to gain skills and assess and counter the attacks that will be coming—and to show those standing for freedom, sovereignty and democracy that they are not alone.

We may never know who Oliver Brown/William Crawley is (or if he even exists) but the smoking gun he left on the battlefield has fingerprints all over it. And we know who he targeted and why—and who is being targeted next. Now it’s up to us.

Cleo Paskal is a columnist with The Sunday Guardian and non-resident Senior Fellow with Compass Point Institute, Palau’s first think tank. Republished with permission.

Subscribe to

our digital

monthly issue