President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan is likely to visit the Caribbean later this year, Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves has said.
Gonsalves made the announcement following talks with Taiwan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jaushieh Joseph Wu, who is on a visit to several Caribbean countries.
The Taiwanese foreign minister arrived in St. Lucia Thursday for a two-day visit as part of his Caribbean tour, having also visited St. Kitts-Nevis, where Prime Minister Dr. Timothy Harris said the visit helped to further strengthen the bilateral relations between the two countries.
“My government expects to shortly receive a significant contribution of eight million dollars (One EC dollar=US$0.37 cents) from the Republic of China (Taiwan) for the historic Old Road Bay Rehabilitation Project, which will enhance the safety and security of users of our road network and provide an enhancement of socio-economic life when completed,’ Harris said.
The three Caribbean countries are among a handful of regional countries that have enjoyed diplomatic relations with Taiwan that China considers to be a renegade province.
Wu, who is making his visit to the region, told reporters “I can tell you, very frankly, in fact we are planning for another big trip already.
“So we will be in your country quite shortly afterwards. Once is not enough considering how close our two countries are in terms of mutual support with each other,” he said, adding that in the last three decades, Kingstown and Taipei have been working very closely with each other in many regards.
“And one thing we are very proud of, in working together with St. Vincent and the Grenadines, is to provide Taiwan scholarships for the bright young people in this country for higher education in Taiwan and we are very proud to be able to work together with your country to provide opportunities for capacity building, training young men in St. Vincent and the Grenadines for particular types of job skills so that when they come back to the country, they can be a productive members of the society,” Wu said.
Gonsalves said that before the end of the year and hopefully sooner rather than later, he would like to welcome the Taiwanese President to the island.
“She is a fantastic woman. For a woman to become president in a country where the politics is rough and tough, the competitive politics, like Taiwan, is a remarkable story. That’s an extraordinary human being who happens to be a woman. I met her, I went to visit her and I hope that she comes to visit me,” he added.
Gonsalves said that Kingstown would continue to recognise Taipei, adding “there are factors which predispose us towards the friendship and there are factors which induce us.
He that the relationship is predisposed by the fact that both nations are competitive democracies, “and where the rule of law means something, transparency and accountability, where we have genuine separation of powers; all of these things mean something. We are interested in peace and international law.
“So it would be very difficult to have countries with those kinds of predispositions or things which would predispose us because of our actual physical, political circumstances, even though you are out by the Pacific and we are here in the Atlantic,” Gonsalves said, adding that notwithstanding the political situation between Taiwan and China, they conduct trade and there is cross-strait investment.
He said Taiwan, China, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines are members of the World Trade Organisation.
“So there are a set of complications in relations and contradictions that we must not in any way look at in terms which are immature, infantile and not taking cognisance of what is real. At the end of the day, we have diplomatic relations with Taiwan and we are good friends; but it is not because we are good friends I must set about having a war with the People’s Republic of China,” he said, adding that Taiwan does not want a war with China.
Meanwhile, St. Lucia said that Wu will meet with Prime Minister Allen Chastanet as well as visit the recently opened Hummingbird Beach Park which was financed by Taiwan.
He will also participate in the signing ceremony for a multi-million dollar road project on Friday.
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It’s time for the Comrade to face realities, and open fraternal relationships and recognition with the People’s Republic of China. St. Vincent will benefit greatly. Socialist solidarity is important. The Comrade knows this. What’s the hold up?
Comrade yourself, mate-
China loans money to countries in the developing world, and the cost of that loan is more than repayment. The country is pressured to vote in favor of China in the United Nations, and elsewhere on the international arena. It also open embassies in the East Caribbean that are collection centers for spying on the United States. Don’t you see the 800-man Chinese Embassy in Dominica, which has no trade with China, is a center for Chinese spies and individuals who engage in industrial espionage.
Finally, today is the thirtieth anniversary of the Tienanman Massacre in China. Still want to let the Peoples’ Republic in ?
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