Grenada's Prime Minister Keith Mitchell has promised an investigation into an embarrassing diplomatic incident, in which the Taiwanese national anthem was played at the official handing over of the Chinese-funded national stadium. The gaffe by the Royal Grenada Police Force Band caused deep embarrassment to officials of the government, and the Chinese ambassador and other representatives who attended the ceremony on Saturday. Chinese Ambassador, Qian Hongshan, and scores of blue-uniformed Chinese labourers who built the new US$40 million Queen's Park stadium as a gift from Beijing, were visibly uncomfortable as Taiwan's anthem echoed inside the 20,000-seat venue. The correct anthem, China's, was played after the ceremony to hand over the US$40 million facility which will host matches of the cricket world cup which starts next month. China does not recognise Taiwan as an independent country, regarding it instead as a renagade breakaway province. The two have played out their diplomatic struggle in the Caribbean, and Grenada had again switched their support. Grenada's New National Party switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to China in 2005, after the mainland bankrolled major works projects, a move that was sharply criticised by the main opposition party, the National Democratic Congress. It is unclear if the foul-up emerged because the official name of Taiwan is the Republic of China, while mainland China is termed the People's Republic of China. Mitchell Apology Dr Mitchell, who alerted the hundreds of invited guests at the ceremony to the mistake, said it saddened a happy moment. "On behalf of the Government and people of this very happy country, a country that recognizes the warmth of its friends and respect its friends, I deeply apologized to the Chinese Ambassador and the entire Chinese people," Dr. Mitchell said. "I was told (that) an inadvertent error occurred today when the wrong national anthem was played. It's a very sad one. "I know the breaking of this relationship with Taiwan was not something supported by all concerned but one thing I always valued about our country is that while we have our differences we respect everybody and we respect all countries. "Once again my deepest apologies, it has saddened and ached my heart," Dr Mitchell continued. "This incident will not go unnoticed and a full investigation will in fact have to be done. "I'm pretty sure that all Grenadians including the opposition forces in this country will support any action of the government to deal with this in a way that demonstrates that we respect our friends at all levels at all societies." Grenada and China resumed diplomatic relations in 2005 after the Caribbean island broke a 15-year relationship with Taiwan. China has been the main financier of a number of projects on the island including a 2,000 unit housing project which was signed into agreement late last year. China paid for the reconstruction of Grenada's stadium, which was destroyed by Hurricane Ivan in 2004, and some 500 Chinese workers helped rebuild the venue in time to host Cricket World Cup matches in April. With all gate receipts going to host governments, Grenada stands to collect substantial revenue from the first World Cup in the Caribbean as it moves to revive a tourist industry devastated by hurricanes in 2004 and 2005. According to a story published yesterday in a local newspaper, Taiwan has sued the Mitchell administration for EC$59 million owed to Taiwan for loans contracted over a 10-year period. The Export-Import Bank of Taiwan brought the court action against the Grenada government in a New York court for four loans for which St. George's has defaulted on payments. The funds were to facilitate, among other major infrastructural projects, construction of the Queen's Park stadium. Reprinted from bbccaribbean.com