Taiwan still reaching out to the Caribbean
03-09-2006
by Kenton Chance
Caribbean Net News St Vincent Correspondent
Email: kenton@caribbeannetnews.com
KINGSTOWN, St Vincent: Taiwan’s new ambassador to St Vincent and the Grenadines says his country is still reaching out to the countries of the region that have ended formal relations with Taipei.
St Vincent and the Grenadines will this August celebrate 25 years of unbroken diplomatic relations with Taiwan but Dominica, St. Lucia and Grenada discontinued relations with Taipei and established ties with mainland China.
China regards Taiwan as a breakaway province that should be reunited with the mainland.
Ambassador Jack Yu-Tai Cheng said he cannot speak for the governments regarding their decision to establish links with China. He said however that Taipei wanted the countries of the region to understand that it is willing to help them in their development.
The ambassador said he was impressed by the opportunity provided by the Vincentian government to persons of all works of life and abilities.
“St. Vincent and the Grenadines is not much behind in terms of schooling than the more developed countries. The country will do well if it continues in this trend,” the ambassador said.
“My impression is that Vincentians - your people and your government - have a future,” he added.
The ambassador said he would try to consolidate the relations between Kingstown and Taipei including exploring new areas of cooperation and assistance especially in the areas of technical assistance and education.
Regarding Taiwan’s relationship with China, Ambassador Cheng said the Taiwanese government intends to maintain the status quo.
“At the moment, I think that is the best policy,” the ambassador said, adding that the 23 million people of Taiwan would have to decide the future of the relations.
His comments came on the heels of a decision by Taiwan president Chen Shui-bian to abolish a committee that had been established to examine the possibility of Taiwan’s reunification with China.
Ambassador Cheng said the organisation had stopped functioned years ago and had not been receiving any financing.
“He (President Chen) also mentioned that it had nothing to do with changing our status quo… It has nothing to do with the changing of our political stance,” he said.
“Our political stance is that Taiwan - the Republic of China - is a sovereign state. And 23 million people have the right to decide on their own (future),” the ambassador added.
The chairman of the main opposition party in Taiwan - Kuomintang (KMT) - during a recent appearance on BBC’s Hard Talk, suggested that his party still favours and would pursue closer ties with Beijing if it were re-elected to office.
Taiwan became a self-governed entity in 1949, after the military defeat on the Chinese mainland of Chiang Kai Shek’s Nationalist Government of the Republic of China, by Mao Zedong’s communist forces.
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