extreme indignation

By Diogenes ( articles ) | Nov 08, 2003

The People's Daily continues its grim self-parody with the following news item:

The Kiribati government announced to set up so-called "diplomatic relations" with the Taiwan authority Friday afternoon, putting aside a long friendly and cooperative relationship between China and Kiribati.

[Foreign Office Spokeswoman] Zhang described the move as "an open betrayal" of the principles of the communique signed between China and Kiribati in 1980 on establishing diplomatic relations between the two countries, and pointed out that it "wantonly interferes in the internal affairs of China". "We express our extreme indignation and resolute opposition to the move," she said.

Kiribati (formerly the Gilbert Islands) has a population of under 100,000 -- 52% of them Catholic, according to the CIA factbook. The PRC has a population of 1,286,000,000. Yet it is Kiribati that "wantonly interferes in the internal affairs of China." This style of rhetoric is not without an amusing aspect, but the situation is not going to end happily.