L'Ombre de l'Olivier

The Shadow of the Olive Tree

being the maunderings of an Englishman on the Côte d'Azur

04 February 2007 Blog Home : February 2007 : Permalink

China? Hu Yu?

So the Caribbean nation of Gredanda received a grant from the People's Republic of China to rebuild a sports stadium trashed by Hurricane Ivan. To show their gratitude when they inaugurated it the played the national anthem of the Republic of China (i.e. Taiwan). As the BBC correspondant notes:

[T]he Chinese envoy to the Caribbean nation was visibly uncomfortable as the Royal Grenada Police Band performed Taiwan's anthem.

"The unfortunate error breaks my heart," Grenada's prime minister said.

"I am very saddened," said Prime Minister Keith Mitchell, promising a detailed inquiry.

One can imagine that PM Mitchell is saddened because he probably isn't going to get any more aid from Beijing. I also assume that "visible uncomfortable" is a bit of a euphemism, similar to the Private Eye inspired "tired and emotional" for drunk...

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I despise l'Escroc and Vile Pin