Grenada, which used to be a staunch ally of Taiwan, may switch its allegiance to China after its prime minister, Keith Mitchell, wrapped up a trip to Beijing to discuss establishing diplomatic ties, media reports said yesterday.
"The prime minister has not formally announced the decision. He only talked to the media regarding the possibility of establishing official relations with China. Mr. Mitchell is due to give a televised speech on Monday [today]. We will wait to see what he is going to say," said Michel Lu (呂慶龍), spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
After returning from an unprecedented trip to China, the prime minister suggested it would be in Grenada's best interest to establish diplomatic ties with Beijing -- a move that would require severing its long-standing relationship with rival Taiwan.
But Mitchell did not specify whether he had reached any agreements with the Chinese government during his visit last week to seek aid for hurricane relief and economic development.
"We had extensive discussions on economic and bilateral relations, and therefore we have reached some decisions as far as the future of our country is concerned," Mitchell said after returning on Friday.
"The world is changing and changing very fast. China is going to be a powerful economic country in every respect and we have to recognize this, and therefore we have to establish some form of contact."
The prime minister said he would discuss the details of his trip in an address to the nation today.
China said on Tuesday it would be happy to see Grenada sever ties with Taiwan, which offered millions of dollars in aid after Hurricane Ivan hammered the Caribbean country in September.
Mitchell met with Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing (
Taiwanese officials said before Mitchell's trip there they were watching closely and would try to convince Grenada that maintaining relations with Taipei was the best choice.
"Taiwan has provided us with enormous support in the past," Mitchell said.
"Clearly anything we intend to do, we will certainly let them know about," he said.
‘UNFRIENDLY’: Changing the nationality listing of Taiwanese residents to ‘China’ goes against EU foreign policy as well as democratic and human rights principles, MOFA said Taiwan yesterday called on Denmark to correct its designation of the nationality of Taiwanese residents as “China” or face retaliatory measures. The Danish government in 2024 changed the nationality of Taiwanese citizens on their residence permits from “Taiwan” to “China.” The decision goes against EU foreign policy and contravenes democratic and human rights principles, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) spokesman Hsiao Kuang-wei (蕭光偉) said. Denmark should present a solution acceptable to Taiwan as soon as possible and correct the erroneous designation to preserve the longstanding friendship between the two nations, Hsiao said. The issue could damage Denmark’s image and business reputation in Taiwan,
Taiwan climbed to its highest position in global export rankings in more than three decades last year, buoyed by demand linked to artificial intelligence (AI) that lifted shipments of semiconductors and technology products, Ministry of Finance data released yesterday showed. Taiwan accounted for 2.4 percent of global exports last year, or about US$640 billion, ranking 12th worldwide, the data showed. That was up four places from a year earlier and marked the nation’s best ranking since 1994, the ministry said. Taiwan’s share of global exports rose by 0.5 percentage points from the previous year, the largest increase among major economies, reflecting the nation’s
FIRST TRIAL: Ko’s lawyers sought reduced bail and other concessions, as did other defendants, but the bail judge denied their requests, citing the severity of the sentences Former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was yesterday sentenced to 17 years in prison and had his civil rights suspended for six years over corruption, embezzlement and other charges. Taipei prosecutors in December last year asked the Taipei District Court for a combined 28-year, six-month sentence for the four cases against Ko, who founded the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The cases were linked to the Core Pacific City (京華城購物中心) redevelopment project and the mismanagement of political donations. Other defendants convicted on separate charges included Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Angela Ying (應曉薇), who was handed a 15-year, six-month sentence; Core Pacific
J-6 REMODEL: The converted drones are part of Beijing’s expanding mix of airpower weapons, including bombers with stand-off missiles and UAV swarms, the report said China has stationed obsolete supersonic fighters converted to attack drones at six air bases close to the Taiwan Strait, a report published this month by the Arlington, Virginia-based Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies said. Satellite imagery of the airfields from the institute’s “China Airpower Tracker” shows what appear to be lines of stubby, swept-winged aircraft matching the shape of J-6 fighters that first flew with the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force in the 1960s. Since their conversion to drones, the aircraft have been identified at five bases in China’s Fujian Province and one in Guangdong Province, the report said. J.
RSS