Solomon Islands bids farewell to a polarising PM who became the Pacific's most China-friendly leader

As Manasseh Sogavare, the most outwardly China-friendly leader of a Pacific island country, conceded his time as prime minister of Solomon Islands was up, he didn't appear to be quite ready to forgive and forget. Announcing his departure in a post-election press conference on Monday, Sogavare lamented that his government had come "under pressure from the United States and western allies" and had been "accused of many things". Sogavare maintained that his decision to switch Solomon Islands' diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to Beijing in 2019 had been "very important", despite the intense geopolitical tussle that followed. In the Pacific, Solomon…