The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday declined to confirm or deny reports that China had offered US$500 million to the Solomon Islands to cut ties with Taiwan, but the ministry blasted a report by a Solomon Islands task force, which it said was full of misinformation.
Rumors that the Pacific ally is to switch allegiance from Taipei to Beijing have been circulating since the Solomon Islands held a general election in April, but speculation reached new heights after Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare last week made the explosive remarks that Taiwan’s politics and economy are “completely useless” in the Pacific region.
Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) last month reportedly offered US$500 million in aid to a task force visiting from the Solomon Islands if the nation would switch recognition before China’s National Day on Oct. 1, Chinese-language Up Media reported on Friday.
Photo: EPA-EFE
To counter any outcry in the Solomon Islands from the general public, Beijing also promised to send medical and agricultural missions to Honiara — as Taiwan has been doing — although the missions might be operated by Changsheng Biotechnology Co and state-owned Wuhan Institute of Biological Products Co, which were implicated last year in making bogus animal and human vaccines, the report said.
Ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) yesterday reiterated the government’s warning to its allies about the traps concealed in Beijing’s offers.
The Chinese government’s promises are often flamboyant but hollow, and might only serve the personal interests of a few politicians, she said, calling on well-informed citizens and “responsible politicians” in Honiara not to sacrifice their sovereignty and general welfare to Beijing’s political plots.
The Up Media report uncovers China’s ruses of using money to rob Taiwan of diplomatic allies and satisfy its predatory and expansionist Belt and Road Initiative, she added.
The Solomon Islands task force to Beijing turned in a report that recommended cutting ties with Taipei, but the report is full of distorted, selfish, incorrect and boastful statements, she said.
The Report of the Bi-Partisan Task-Force: Review of Solomon Islands Relations with People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Republic of China (ROC) tells the Solomon Islands to “normalize diplomatic relations with the PRC,” “sign joint communique to establish new diplomatic relations” and “severe [sic] diplomatic relations with ROC.”
The ministry said in a statement on Friday that some task force members attended the general assembly of the Asian-Pacific Parliamentarians’ Union in Taipei last month, but that the ministry did not talk with them about diplomatic ties because they had not come as a fact-finding delegation.
The claim in the task force’s report that ministry officials told them that Taiwan would not conduct any special assistance programs in the Solomon Islands is simply a lie, it said.
The ministry reiterated its appeal that the ally decide on ties in a democratic, lawful, open and transparent manner, saying that the 36-year friendship between them “might be jeopardized.”
Asked if the ally proposed any “price” for maintaining ties when Solomon Islands Minister of Foreign Affairs Jeremiah Manele met with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in Taipei last week, Ou said that the two sides deliberated over collaborations, not money.
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) is to travel to Honiara next week to hold further talks about diplomatic relations, she added.
Meanwhile, Solomon Islanders revealed a sense of urgency on social media.
The Youths Online Campaign — For Change Solomon Islands yesterday wrote on Facebook that the task force report was “very poorly researched, badly written and presents incredibly weak arguments.”
The “I am from Honiara, Solomon Islands” Facebook page urged compatriots to stand up to defend their nation’s welfare, warning that cutting ties with Taiwan would also “affect our relationships with other democratic friends including the US, Australia, New Zealand and others.”
“China promises huge money and flashy infrastructures but usually, the politicians and those in higher positions are the only ones benefited and their actions are not friendly to rural people and their environment,” it added.
Taiwanese have donated more than NT$10 million (US$329,946) to fight the COVID-19 outbreak in Italy, following an appeal for help by a Yilan-based Italian priest to save his “other homeland.” Catholic Father Giuseppe Didone on Wednesday issued a public letter asking for donations to be made to the fundraising center of Camillian Saint Mary’s Hospital Luodong to purchase emergency provisions, including surgical masks and protective gowns, for medical personnel in Italy. Didone yesterday expressed his gratitude and said that he was touched by the love shown by Taiwanese. While state-funded hospitals in Italy are mostly adequately supplied, many local clinics are suffering from
MISCONCEPTION: Cats can injure themselves if they fall from a high place, despite being able to right themselves, an advocate said, urging owners to secure their windows Injuries from falls and poisoning are common among domesticated cats, two animal welfare advocates said, urging cat owners to pay attention to the safety of their pets. “Placing netting over metal window grates is a common and important measure to protect cats from falling,” said one of the advocates, who used the alias “Cuddy.” Some owners let their cats roam outdoors, but doing so could be dangerous for the animals, said the other advocate, who used the alias “Mark.” As cats love high places and have hunting instincts, they can easily endanger themselves when trying to pounce on birds or bats from a
‘USE ECONOMICALLY’: People can use rice cookers to sterilize masks and reuse them three to five times, the FDA director-general said, reminding people not to use water People should not waste masks even with the purchasing quotas increasing this week, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday, adding that sterilization with a rice cooker is a good way to extend supplies. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that from Thursday, people can buy nine masks per 14 days, which should be sufficient. “However, I have to urge everyone to use masks economically,” Chen said, adding that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has released information on how masks can be reused. FDA Director-General Wu Shou-mei (吳秀梅) said that masks can be put
‘TAIWAN IDENTITY’ The outbreak in China occurred as Taiwan was promoting its own national character, which is fundamentally changing cross-strait exchanges China’s initial cover-up of the COVID-19 outbreak has further deepened the distrust between Taipei and Beijing, dealing an irreparable blow to cross-strait exchanges, analysts said. Since March 2018, when a US-China trade dispute began to unfold, decoupling from China has become a worldwide trend, which has been reinforced by the COVID-19 pandemic, Chien Hsin University of Science and Technology professor Yen Chien-fa (顏建發) said on Friday. Taiwan started distancing itself from China before the rest of the world with its New Southbound Policy and deepening its ties with like-minded nations, he said. Yen said that he does not believe that anyone would buy
RSS