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Papua New Guinea finds Biden’s cannibal remarks hard to swallow
- Biden last week raised the possibility that his uncle, whose plane was shot down over New Guinea in May 1944, might have been eaten by cannibals
- ‘My country does not deserve to be labelled as such’, PNG’s PM said of the US president’s insinuation, after meeting China’s foreign minister
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Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape says his nation does not deserve to be labelled cannibals, and urged the US to clear up the remnants of World War Two littered across the Pacific, after comments by President Joe Biden about his missing serviceman uncle.
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Biden had “appeared to imply his uncle was eaten by cannibals after his plane was shot down over PNG during WWII”, Marape’s office said in a statement late on Sunday.
“President Biden’s remarks may have been a slip of the tongue; however, my country does not deserve to be labelled as such,” Marape said in the statement.
“I urge President Biden to get the White House to look into cleaning up these remains of WWII so the truth about missing servicemen like Ambrose Finnegan can be put to rest.”
The United States signed a defence cooperation agreement with PNG last year, amid competition for influence in the region with China, which has a security pact with neighbouring Solomon Islands.
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China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Marape in the capital Port Moresby on Sunday to build closer economic ties, while Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese arrives this week to commemorate second world war history.
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