The P.U.P.’s Position on Taiwan

A trip to mainland china by P.U.P. Caribbean Shores Area Representative Kareem Musa, Belize City Deputy Mayor Oscar Arnold, and Councilor Michael “Chips” Noralez in August stirred controversy. Musa told the press that the visit was as a result of an invitation by the Chairman of the Belize Chinese Association Johnston Wu who has refuted the statement. The trip raised eyebrows because Belize has had more than three decades of diplomatic relations with Taiwan and is one of the remaining allies to Taiwan. This week, the Solomon Islands’ government voted to sever its longstanding ties with Taiwan and take up diplomatic relations with China.  P.U.P. Leader John Briceño told the media that he was informed of the trip and reiterated that the men did not travel to China in any official capacity. Briceño says no talks have been had in respect to a policy switch. 

John Briceño

John Briceño, Leader of the Opposition

“Our party to this day we have not had any discussion whether we are going to move our support from Taiwan and to support China. So we have not had that discussion so at the point as of today we continue to say that we will continue to support Taiwan.”

Reporter

Do you accept that China may be making overthrows through your party? We know that it has sniped off a number of Taiwanese allies in this region.

John Briceño

“Well as far as I know I have not spoken to anyone from China who has asked us to change our support from Taiwan to China. So I have not had that kind of discussion with anybody.”