Honiara is a small city just three hours by plane from Australia, where many of the locals struggle on a daily basis. They grapple with poverty, crime, and unemployment. Some health care centres in town are breaking down; others are running out of paracetamol.

This, even though Chinese state-backed companies are investing hundreds of millions of dollars into the Solomon Islands.

As one landowner said of Chinese investors who are failing to fulfil their promises to the locals: “They are treating us like animals.” 

Today, North Asia correspondent Eryk Bagshaw on how the locals are suffering, now that China has become the new power player in the Pacific. And what threat this could pose to Australia.