US President Joe Biden's apparent suggestion that his uncle may have been eaten by cannibals during World War II has sparked uproar in Papua New Guinea – casting a shadow over US relations with the Pacific nation and getting a firm response from your leader.
In controversial comments made last week after a visit to a war memorial, Biden twice hinted that the US had failed to recover the remains of his uncle Ambrose Finnegan after his plane crashed near the island of New Guinea during the war. “because there used to be a lot of cannibals” in the region.
In a statement from his office on Monday (22), the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, James Marape, admitted that Biden may have expressed himself poorly.
But he rejected the characterization of cannibalism in the Pacific island nation, which encompasses the eastern half of New Guinea and more than 600 nearby islands.
“President Biden’s remarks may have been a slip-up; however, my country does not deserve to be labeled as such,” said Marape.
Although cannibalism was documented among the region's remote tribes in the mid-20th century, Papua New Guinea has struggled to shake off the stereotypes in more recent decades, and Biden's comments were met with criticism within the country.
“Papua New Guinea should not be seen as cannibalistic because of our past history. We are part of modern civilization,” said a comment on the social platform X (formerly Twitter).
“What nonsense is he talking about?” asked another X user in PNG's capital, Port Moresby.
In a Facebook post, Papuan Foreign Minister Justin Tkatchenko warned that Biden's “misinformed remarks” could undermine relations between the countries, which have deepened in recent years as Washington competes for influence with Beijing in the Pacific.
“These apparently false statements by the sitting president are a low point in our bilateral relations,” Tkatchenko said.
Missing soldiers
Tens of thousands of soldiers, including around 7,000 Americans, were killed in New Guinea during intense fighting between the Imperial Japanese Army and Allied forces in World War II, according to the Australian War Memorial.
Many remains were never recovered.
In his statement on Monday, Marape called on the United States to help find the remains of those killed during the conflict.
“The Second World War was not the work of my people; however, [os papuásios] they were drawn unnecessarily into a conflict that was not of their making,” said Marape.
“I urge President Biden to have the White House investigate the cleanup of these World War II remains so that the truth about missing service members like Ambrose Finnegan can be put to rest.”
On Wednesday, the US Embassy in PNG addressed Biden's comments, saying the United States “respects the people and culture of Papua New Guinea and remains committed to promoting respectful relations between our democracies.”
“President Biden highlighted his uncle’s story in championing the need to honor our sacred commitment to equip those we send to war,” the embassy said in a statement.
“The U.S. Embassy in Port Moresby and the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency are dedicated to locating and recovering World War II remains in Papua New Guinea.”
What Biden said
Biden made controversial comments on April 17 following his visit to a war memorial in Pennsylvania.
“He was shot in an area where there were a lot of cannibals in New Guinea at the time. They never recovered his body,” he said of his uncle.
Biden blamed cannibalism more directly in a speech later that day, claiming that Finnegan “was shot down in New Guinea, and they never found the body because there used to be — there were a lot of cannibals, really, in that part of New Guinea.”
The president's account of his uncle's death differs from that published by Defense POW/MIA Accounting, which states that Finnegan's plane, an A-20 Havoc bound for New Guinea on a mail flight, was “forced to crash in the ocean” off the coast of the island “for unknown reasons”.
Biden's comments came nearly a year after he canceled what would have been a sitting U.S. president's first trip to Papua New Guinea due to internal debt ceiling negotiations.
When asked about the comments, the White House did not repeat Biden's claims about cannibals or the shooting down of his uncle's plane.
Source: CNN Brasil
Bruce Belcher is a seasoned author with over 5 years of experience in world news. He writes for online news websites and provides in-depth analysis on the world stock market. Bruce is known for his insightful perspectives and commitment to keeping the public informed.
