China aims to deepen Caribbean ties, Grenada affirms one-China principle

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BEIJING (Reuters) -China is ready to deepen its comprehensive cooperative partnership with Caribbean nations, President Xi Jinping said on Monday during a meeting in Beijing with Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell of Grenada, a one-time diplomatic ally of Taiwan.

China is willing to keep up assistance to regional countries to aid their economic and social development, the official news agency, Xinhua, cited Xi as saying.

Grenada has benefited greatly from ties with China and looks forward to strengthening cooperation with the Asian giant, it quoted Mitchell as saying at the meeting.

“Both sides should … draw a new blueprint for the long-term and high-level development of bilateral relations,” Xi said, adding that two-way ties had developed successfully over the last two decades.

Mitchell said Grenada firmly adhered to the one-China principle and called for its sovereignty and territorial integrity to be respected, Xinhua added.

Mitchell, the first foreign leader Xi has met this year in Beijing, was on an official week-long visit to China from Saturday.

The Caribbean and Latin America have the largest concentration of Taiwan allies, with seven of its remaining 12 allies in the region.

China views the democratically-governed island as part of its territory with no right to state-to-state ties, a position Taiwan’s government strongly disputes.

Taiwan broke off ties with Grenada 20 years ago after the Caribbean nation switched ties to China.

In the Caribbean, Haiti, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, as well as Saint Vincent and the Grenadines are still its allies.

China and Taiwan have for years traded accusations of using “dollar diplomacy” as they compete for diplomatic recognition.

Last year, Taiwan security officials said they believed China was likely to continue to whittle away at the number of its allies.

(Reporting by Liz Lee; Editing by Kim Coghill and Clarence Fernandez)