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.
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
SECURITY: The purpose for giving Hong Kong and Macau residents more lenient paths to permanent residency no longer applies due to China’s policies, a source said The government is considering removing an optional path to citizenship for residents from Hong Kong and Macau, and lengthening the terms for permanent residence eligibility, a source said yesterday. In a bid to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from infiltrating Taiwan through immigration from Hong Kong and Macau, the government could amend immigration laws for residents of the territories who currently receive preferential treatment, an official familiar with the matter speaking on condition of anonymity said. The move was part of “national security-related legislative reform,” they added. Under the amendments, arrivals from the Chinese territories would have to reside in Taiwan for
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