Taipei Times: As your foreign minister Danny Philip was visiting Beijing exploring the possibility of switching ties to China, your prime minister on Tuesday said that ties between Taiwan and the Solomon Islands remained unchanged. How do you explain the different stances taken by the Solomons' foreign minister and prime minister?
Lucian Kii: When the foreign minister was in Brisbane, the official arrangement was for him to go to Taipei. That is, to open our embassy, to attend Double Ten Day celebrations and to seek financial aid for the property losses and damages caused by ethnic tensions.
But while he was in Brisbane, he decided on his own accord to go to Beijing.
Remember, I told you the other day that due to the fact that we were scheduled to have peace talks (between the Solomons' two warring parties, beginning on Tuesday in Australia), the government decided that he had to remain in Australia to attend the talks.
But still, he decided by himself that he would go to Beijing. We don't know whether he's in Beijing now or somewhere else.
TT: What is the latest information you have regarding your foreign minister's whereabouts?
Kii: (Laughs). That's funny, in the way that I am the permanent secretary for foreign affairs and yet I don't know where he is now. That's funny to me.
Normally I should know, but the fact that he decided to go to Beijing while in Brisbane has put me off.
TT: Are you angry with him?
Kii: Well, I should have known ... we know that he was supposed to go to Taipei.
TT: What caused him to go to Beijing instead?
Kii: He said there was a better deal offered by the People's Republic of China (PRC) in terms of financial assistance to the Solomon Islands, so he decided to go and explore. But that exploration does not mean that we are going to switch ties to the PRC.
In other words, he just wanted to find out more about it, but our ties with Taipei remain the same.
TT: Apparently you talked to him after he went to Beijing, right?
Kii: No. So far he hasn't contacted us. We would like to talk with Danny if we can locate his whereabouts.
TT: But you quoted him as saying that he went to Beijing because there was a better financial deal offered by China?
Kii: That was on Monday. That was the last time we have heard from him. He rang the prime minister to say that he's on his way to Beijing.
And the prime minister informed me at about 5pm Monday that the foreign minister had decided to go to Beijing.
So the instructions by the prime minister (to the foreign minister) was that since he decided to go, he should go and understand the overall situation -- no more and no less.
TT: What you are saying is that your foreign minister went to Beijing in a personal capacity to explore the possibility of securing a better financial deal from Beijing?
Kii: Yes. I will leave it to you to make your own judgment on that. As far as I know, his going to Beijing was not discussed in an official capacity within the ministry of foreign affairs before he left. It was only done only while he was in Australia.
TT: Some speculate that your foreign minister made a decision to go to Beijing in a personal capacity because he wants to gain something as a broker out of any financial deal.
Kii: That's news to me. I'll leave it to you to make that judgment.
TT: Some observers said the fact that your foreign minister and prime minister have taken different stances regarding ties between Taiwan and the Solomon Islands was because they are from different factions. What's your view on that?
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