The Solomon Islands yesterday said that it hopes to make a decision by Saturday next week on whether it would cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan and switch recognition to China.
Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare called a meeting to discuss the possibility of switching diplomatic allegiance to Beijing.
Alex Akwai, the press secretary of the prime minister’s office, told reporters that the meeting did not reach any conclusion and would resume on Tuesday.
Photo: EPA-EFE / David Chang
The Cabinet hopes to make a decision on the matter before the prime minister departs for New York to attend the UN General Assembly on Saturday next week, Akwai said.
Sogavare convened the meeting, at which lawmakers from the Solomon Island’s Democratic Coalition Government for Advancement were also present, to discuss a report submitted by a cross-party task force that recommended the nation cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan.
However, some attendees said the meeting only heard a briefing from John Moffat Fugui, leader of the task force, on the report and no discussions were held.
In the report, the task force recommended that the Solomon Islands government switch diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to China by the middle of this month, before Beijing celebrates the 70th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China on Oct. 1.
Normalization of ties between Honiara and Beijing represents adherence to the “one China policy/principle” and both countries expect to boost the relationship by exchanging embassies, the report said.
The Solomon Islands, one of Taiwan’s 17 diplomatic allies, has been reviewing diplomatic ties since its new government took office in April.
Reuters reported that the task force returned from a tour of Pacific nations allied with China just before a visit in the middle of last month to Beijing by eight Solomons Islands’ ministers and the prime minister’s private secretary.
Ambassador to the Solomon Islands Oliver Liao (廖文哲) said that in the wake of the report, Taiwan’s embassy mobilized pro-Taiwan lawmakers in Honiara to voice support for Taipei.
Before making a final decision on whether the country would shift recognition to China, Sogavare is to review four documents — the cross-party task force report, a report from the Solomon Islands Foreign Relations Committee, a report from the Solomon Islands Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Trade and a report from the prime minister’s office.
With Sogavare expected to meet with US Vice President Mike Pence in the US, pro-China Solomon Islands lawmakers expressed hope that he would make a decision on ties with Taiwan before leaving to avoid any attempt by Washington to exert its influence.
In Washington, a source said that the US fears the severing of ties between Taiwan and the Solomon Islands would hurt US interests in the region, and Pence wants to take advantage of the meeting with Sogavare at the UN to ask him to maintain the “status quo.”
However, the source said that if Honiara makes the decision before Sogavare departs for New York, Pence would only be able to express the US’ stance and the meeting would likely make no difference.
On Wednesday, US Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs David Helvey voiced concern about ties between Taipei and Honiara at the conclusion of a forum held by the Washington-based Global Taiwan Institute.
Maintaining diplomatic partners is one way for Taiwan to ensure it is not isolated from the international community and helps ensure peace and stability in the region, Helvey said.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods