Solomon Islands govt criticises “misinformation” in Four Corners report

The Solomon Islands government has accused ABC of spreading “misinformation” and “pre-conceived prejudicial information” following a Four Corners report.

On August 1 Four Corners revealed that a Chinese state-owned company was in talks to buy a plantation on the island of Kolombangara, which features a deep-water port and an airstrip.

The report came amid growing concerns in the region over the signing of a security pact between Solomon Islands and China.

ABC reported High Commissioner Lachlan Strahan was later called in and warned such reports by Australian media could damage ties between the two countries.

But the Solomon Islands Office of the Prime Minister & Cabinet said, “The Australian High Commissioner was never summoned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Trade as the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Television has published.

“The High Commissioner has had ‘neighborly discussion’ with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Trade on a number of issues pertinent to the relationship between Solomon Islands and the Australian Government. The Four Corners Program of ABC was merely part of the range of issues discussed.”

It said it was a “baseless allegation to say that a Chinese firm is going to buy off the Kolombangara Forests Products Limited (KFPL) on Kolombangara Island, Western Province.”

The government claimed reporter Angus Grigg “was putting words into the mouths of the interviewees and that speak volumes of his intention which is clearly to cause division between the governments of Australia and Solomon Islands.”

But ABC has rejected the criticisms and stood by its report.

At no point did the program rely on “misinformation and distribution of pre-conceived prejudicial information”.

“It was not our intention to ’cause division between the governments of Australia and Solomon Islands’, rather to highlight issues of concern to all Solomon Islanders,” ABC said in a statement.

“We completely reject the offensive notion of ‘racial profiling that is bordering racism and race stereotyping’. In fact, we were determined to tell the story from the perspective of Solomon Islanders and the program reflected their concerns. Its main interviews were with two eminent Solomon Islanders, rather than relying on ‘foreign experts’ as is often the case. The ABC rejects the idea that we were ‘putting words into the mouths of the interviewees’ and sees this as insulting to the Solomon Islanders who appeared in the program.

On the issue of Kolombangara, the ABC did not say that the ‘shareholders have made a decision to sell off the company to a Chinese firm’. Rather, the program accurately reported that the issue had been discussed at board level and that the Australian directors were so concerned about a potential sale to a Chinese state-owned company that they twice wrote to the Federal Government expressing concerns that the purchase could be used by Beijing to establish a base under the cover of a commercial enterprise. Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s office confirmed it was aware of the issue. Her office has also not ruled out intervening. The ABC also notes that the plantation on Kolombangara is owned 85 per cent by the Nien Family of Taiwan and 15 per cent by the government of the Solomon Islands, not the 60/40 split claimed in the press release.”