Somalilandsun: Malaita, the largest province of Solomon Islands, has announced that it will hold a referendum on independence later this month. This is due to disputes with the Solomon Government over policy towards China.
“A country-wide referendum on independence will soon take place,” said Provincial Prime Minister Daniel Suidani, according to The Guardian. The letter confirmed that the vote in the area with 200,000 inhabitants is to take place later this month.
Suidani’s cabinet supports Taiwan, while the central government cut ties with the island off the coast of China last year after 36 years and reoriented itself to Beijing.
According to the Guardian, differences in policy towards China and Taiwan split the islands, as do the cultural, ethnic and political differences that led to the unrest in 1998 and 2003, which sent Australia a peacekeeping mission to this area , which remained there until 2017.
Taiwan is now actively ahead of sub-national authorities. In July, it formally recognized Somaliland, which broke away from its voluntary union with Somalia three decades ago.
