Taiwan reportedly suffers the loss of another Pacific partner.
While the Solomon Islands Foreign Minister is about to travel to Bejing to formalise diplomatic relations with China, Taiwan has reportedly cut ties with Kirabati.
The latest news follows a news bulletin from Radio New Zealand this afternoon, Friday, which said, quote:
“Taiwan's Central News Agency (CNA) reported Foreign Minister Joseph Wu had announced his country was ending relations with Kiribati.
“Taiwan News reported Mr Wu saying, "the Kiribati government has informed us today that it would terminate relations with Taiwan".
“Taiwan will cancel all bilateral projects in Kiribati, withdrawing its embassy, diplomats, and technical and medical missions immediately, Mr Wu said.
“Taiwan "regrets and strongly condemns" Kiribati for disregarding years of assistance and friendship, CNA quoted Mr Wu as saying.”
In relation to Minister Manele’s trip to Beijing, the Solomon Star news reported today, quote:
A Joint Communiqué to establish relations between Solomon Islands and China will be signed by Minister Manele and his Chinese counterpart, Yi Wang.
The Solomons government said the signing would trigger a series of bilateral discussions between officials on a range of areas in which China would assist Solomon Islands, including infrastructure, education, sports, tourism, health, trade and investment.
Following the Beijing visit, Mr Manele will lead the Solomons delegation to the UN General Assembly in New York.
Yours sincerely
Frank Short
