In a bid to mend the recent rift with Taiwan, the Solomon Islands' government yesterday announced that its Prime Minister Mannasseh Sogavarare plans to visit Taiwan this month, a move welcomed by Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA).
The press release, issued by the Government Communications Division of the Prime Minister's Department, quoted Edward Hunuehu, special advisor to Sogavare, as saying that Sogavare decided to visit Taipei instead of attending the South Pacific Forum meeting in Kiribati -- the biggest annual gathering of Pacific leaders -- in late October.
"He is not going to Tarawa. He is going to Taipei instead to try to clear up the matter," an official from Sogavare's office was quoted as saying.
The statement also said that during a meeting held yesterday afternoon between Sogavare and Taiwan's ambassador to the country, Teng Pei-yin (鄧備殷), Sogavare had apologized for "wrongly suggesting that ROC Foreign Minister Dr Tien Hung-mao (田弘茂) had been inexperienced in handling matters" between the two countries.
The Solomon Islands government issued a press release on Wednesday after a Cabinet meeting, saying ties with Taiwan remain intact while adding that Taiwan was entirely to blame for the diplomatic fracas of the last few months. The statement also cited as a cause the "inexperience" of Tien in handling relations between the two countries.
Yesterday's press release also stated that the one issued on Wednesday "had not been subjected to the Prime Minister's prior consent as required" and that Hunuehu therefore apologized for the statement.
MOFA spokesman Henry Chen (
MOFA held an emergency meeting early Wednesday evening to discuss how to respond to the press release in question. Chen then held a press conference issuing a "strong protest" to the Solomons for what he termed "emotional terms" and "factual mistakes" in the statement.
On Wednesday evening, Teng was instructed by MOFA to issue Taiwan's protests to the Solomons, while Joseph Shih (
MOFA officials, who refused to be named, quoted Gukuna as saying during the meeting that the press release came as a "shock" to him.
Wednesday's press release admitted that the country's finance minister visited Taiwan in August requesting a financial aid package of about US$60 million.
The statement described a trip made by its foreign minister and finance minister to Taipei in early September as "a trip of misunderstanding."
The recent rift between the two countries was triggered by the visit of the Solomons' foreign minister, Danny Philip, to Hong Kong, where he met Chinese officials to discuss a Chinese financial offer to the crisis-torn state, a deal which reportedly would have involved cutting links with Taiwan.
Philip had been scheduled to attend Double Ten national day celebrations but pulled out without giving a reason. Speculation about the Solomon Islands' diplomatic shift from Taiwan to Beijing centers on a trade-off between diplomatic recognition for foreign aid, but the government's Cabinet meeting on Wednesday decided that ties with Taiwan would remain unchanged.Also See Editorial Inside
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