It's the third time that Mainland China has been publicly embarrassed under the Keith Mitchell-led New National Party (NNP) government in St. George's.

The latest incident occurred last Saturday at Queen's Park, St. George's when the Chinese-built multi-million dollar cricket stadium was officially handed over by Beijing to Grenada.

The gathering including both local and visiting Chinese government officials, and some members of the Chinese work brigade on the island were stunned when the Royal Grenada Police Force (RGPF) band played the anthem of main rival, the Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan instead of that of Mainland China.

The first casualty of the diplomatic embarrassment is Inspector Brian Hurst, Band Master with the police force who has been relieved of his duties by Police Commissioner, Winston James.

A police spokesman said that COP James has asked his deputy, Raymond Charles to head a team of investigators to look into the matter and to use all the resources of the force to arrive at the truth into the matter.

Insp. Hurst has been sent home and is expected to be assigned new duties by the Commissioner later in the week pending the outcome of the investigation. The first embarrassment for Chinese from the Mainland came in the late 1990's when a team of acrobats were brought into the country by former Executive member of the Grenada United Labour Party (GULP), Jerry Seales on visas issued in London by then High Commissioner, Marcelle Gairy.

The Chinese equipment were confiscated by the Customs Department and the visitors barred from performing shows in  government facilities like schools and community centres and met with frequent harassment from members of the Police Special Branch.

The other embarrassing incident for the Chinese under Mitchell's NNP came when then Opposition Leader Michael Baptiste in early 2001invited the Trinidad-based female PRC Ambassador and a delegation to the island.

A group of heavily armed officers of the Special Services Unit (SSU) of the police force carried out an early morning operation in which the Ambassador was detained, escorted to the airport and thrown out of the country.

The stadium episode forced Prime Minister Mitchell, dressed in ordinary clothing instead of a traditional suit for the occasion, to quickly offer an apology to the Chinese.³I was told (that) an inadvertent error occurred today (Saturday) when the wrong national anthem was played. It's a very sad one², said Dr. Mitchell.

Two years ago, the NNP administration decided to dump Taiwan for Mainland China which offered the hurricane-battered island a larger aid package than Taiwan was prepared to give for the reconstruction effort.

The move angered most Grenadians who felt that Taiwan had been good to the island over the years.³I 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 countries², Dr. Mitchell told the gathering.

³Once again my deepest apologies, it has saddened and ached my heart,² he remarked. Prime Minister Mitchell announced that an investigation would be launched immediately into the matter.

³I'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 societies², he said.

The newly constructed US$40 million facility was built by the Chinese to help Grenada stage its six allotted matches for the 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup starting next month in Jamaica. As the un-welcomed Taiwanese anthem echoed inside the more than 16,000 seat venue and sparking visible uncomfortableness among the Chinese delegation, Dr. Mitchell alerted the hundreds of invited guests at the ceremony to the mistake.

He said that it saddened ³a happy moment² for Grenada which is soon to benefit from the construction of 2, 000 low income houses from Beijing.³On behalf of the Government and people of this very happy country, a country that recognises the warmth of its friends and respect its friends, I deeply apologise to the Chinese Ambassador and the entire Chinese people,² he said. He told the gathering that he is very saddened and that the ³unfortunate error² breaks his heart.

³I want to promise though that this incident will not go unnoticed and that a full investigation will in fact have to be done², he remarked. When asked for a comment on the issue, Insp. Hurst told Grenada Today that the matter is under investigation and declined to give a comment at this time so as to not compromise the integrity of the probe.

China paid for the reconstruction of the stadium that was wrecked by Hurricane Ivan in September 2004 , and brought into the country some 500 Chinese workers to help rebuild the facility in time for the World Cup.

Since China and Taiwan split in 1949 amid a civil war, Beijing has claimed that Taiwan is a renegade province and should not have diplomatic ties with other countries. China refuses to acknowledge Taiwan and objects to other countries maintaining diplomatic or official relations with Taipei.

The mix-up of the anthems follows on the heals of a revelation one day earlier that a state-owned bank in Taiwan sued the Mitchell administration in a New York court to recover EC$59 million owed for loans contracted over a 10-year period.

The NNP has remained silent on the court case.