Rival Chinese and Taiwanese political factions are squabbling in the Solomon Islands to the extent that the largest island is threatening to secede after the government switched its support from Taiwan to China.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/02/solomon-island...

It would appear that both nations themselves have enough agency, economic power, and diplomatic clout to play their own Great Games. None is righteous, no, not one.