Biden claims cannibals devoured his uncle

Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister James Marape said Joe Biden insulted the country by suggesting that during World War II, cannibals ate the uncle of the US president.

Biden made some remarks that upset an important friend, while China is trying to gain more power in the area.

The president talked at a war memorial in Pennsylvania about his uncle who was a pilot in the Army Air Corps. He said his uncle was shot down over Papua New Guinea, where there was a lot of fighting.

“They couldn’t find the body because there were many cannibals in that part of New Guinea,” Biden said, talking about the island’s main island.

Marape said on Sunday that Biden seemed to suggest his uncle was eaten by cannibals.

“President Biden may have made a mistake when he spoke, but my country should not be called that,” Marape said in a statement given to The Associated Press on Monday.

“My people didn’t start World War II, but they got involved in a fight that wasn’t their fault,” Marape said.

The disagreement happened when Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visited Papua New Guinea, which is Australia’s closest neighbor. Albanese and Marape will honor the strong friendship between their countries by walking on a battlefield called the Kokoda Track later this week.

“I’m sure that PNG and Australia have a strong partnership in defense and security,” Albanese said before leaving Australia.

The US Embassy in Papua New Guinea’s capital, Port Moresby, did not answer a request for a comment on Monday.

Biden said Finnegan’s plane was shot down, but military records don’t prove it. According to a report from the Pentagon, Finnegan was on a plane that crashed into the ocean because both of its engines failed on May 14, 1944.

One person from the crew lived, but they couldn’t find the plane or the other three people who were on it, including Finnegan.

Marape made a statement on the day he met with China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Port Moresby to talk about improving relations.

Marape asked the US to search for their soldiers who died in the jungles of Papua New Guinea and to remove the remains of war.

Marape said that the wreckage of World War II is spread out all over PNG, and also includes the plane that carried President Biden’s uncle.

He said maybe it’s a good idea for the USA to look for more World War II remains in PNG, like those of soldiers who died, because of what President Biden said and the strong reaction from PNG and other parts of the world.

The war areas in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands have many old things from World War II, like dead bodies, crashed planes, sunken ships, tunnels, and bombs. Our people are afraid of being killed by bombs left over from World War II, every day,” Marape said.