US cancels Solomon Islands meeting after ‘disappointment’ at it switching ties from Taipei to Beijing
- Vice-President Mike Pence will no longer meet the islands’ leader after it becomes the latest country to isolate Taipei by changing allegiance to Beijing
- Solomons opposition leader condemns ‘mercenary’ switch that he fears was rushed through before Beijing’s 70th anniversary celebrations on October 1
Chad Morris, public affairs officer for the US embassy in Papua New Guinea, said on Wednesday that Pence had been due to meet Sogavare during the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, but had a “quite challenging” schedule and “heard the PM may not attend the UNGA at all”. “As a result, the meeting was cancelled,” Morris said.
The confirmation followed a Reuters report on Wednesday that Pence had cancelled the meeting, quoting an unnamed senior administration official as saying that the Solomon Islands’ decision to make the diplomatic switch “has consequences”.
After months of deliberation, the Solomons chose to end its 36-year diplomatic relationship with Taiwan, leaving the island with only 16 diplomatic allies.
The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), the de facto American embassy in Taiwan, said in a statement that the US was “deeply disappointed” in the Solomons’ decision to end ties with Taipei, adding that countries that establish ties with mainland China hoping for economic growth and infrastructure development “often find themselves worse off in the long run”.