Taiwan President Ends Visit To Caribbean

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts CMC – Taiwan President, Ma Ying-jeou, on Monday, ended his visit to the Caribbean pledging Taiwan’s continued support for the socio-economic development of St. Kitts-Nevis, the last stop on his three-nation visit.

As he did in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and St. Lucia, President Ma signed a joint communiqué with Prime Minister Dr. Denzil Douglas praising the Caribbean island for its friendship over 30 years and promising to lend assistance in areas such as climate change, renewable energy, tourism, education and infrastructural development.

Prime Minister Douglas stressed that issues relating to China “must be resolved peacefully” and expressed his admiration for the China imitative that has called for all parties to shelve controversy and establish the a mechanism for cooperation.

China regards Taiwan as a renegade province and has been pushing for the adoption of the “One China” policy, to which many Caribbean countries embrace.

But Taiwan has been able to gain support of a handful of Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries that have also pledged their assistance in getting the Asian country admitted to a number of international organisations including the World Health Organization (WTO) and the International Civil Organization (ICO).

President Ma, who addressed the National Assembly before wrapping up his two-day visit here, expressed appreciation “for the staunch support” of the twin island Federation for Taiwan’s application to participate in international forums.

He said Taiwan also supported the economic integration of CARICOM and lauded St. Kitts-Nevis for the efforts at transforming the local economy.

He said as a “long term and sincere ally” Taiwan would continue to help the island develop a meaningful link between the tourism and agricultural sectors as well as develop the information, communication and technology (ICT) industry.

Prime Minister Douglas described the visit of Ma as “being most instructive” indicating that two nations sharing democratic values “can together through the pursuit and development of strong bilateral relations

Produce great benefits…for their people.

He said the signing of the joint communiqué is indicative of the years of friendly relations between the two countries with “different historical backgrounds.

“Even a casual tour of St. Kitts-Nevis reveals the many ways in which the government of the Republic of China on Taiwan and the government of St. Kitts and Nevis have worked together for the benefit of our generation.”