St Vincent PM says Caribbean unity needed now more than ever

Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, Dr Ralph Gonsalves is calling for greater unity among member states of the Caribbean, noting that a united region is needed to deal with the mounting global challenges.

Delivering the annual Dame Eugenia Charles Memorial Lecture on December 2, Gonsalves, one of the region’s longest-serving heads of government, spoke on the topic ‘Our Caribbean Civilisation and its Political Prospects’.

“The necessity and desirability for an independent Caribbean, united, is more urgent than ever,” he told the audience, saying “I know there are problems in getting there but we have to cooperate and do things more together.

“ As prime ministers we have so many domestic challenges, but we really can’t deal with the serious ones unless we work together across the Caribbean,” he said.

He added that issues such as climate change, climate financing, the issue of war and peace, and the ongoing war in Ukraine are matters about which the region needs a united position.

Gonsalves told his audience that he has sent a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin, US President Joe Biden, the Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as well as United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Guterres “making a plea for peace”, and that he intends to send the letter to every head of State in the world.

Gonsalves said with the threat of nuclear weapons being used, it is important “for all of us to be in solidarity on certain questions — even when we disagree with each other politically.

“There are some things which we must, at least for the good of the nation and for our civilisation regionally, work together,” he added.

During the lecture Gonsalves defended his Government’s decision to have diplomatic relations with Taiwan, which China considers a renegade province even though most Caribbean Community (Caricom) countries enjoy diplomatic status with Beijing rather than Taipei.

Asked by a member of the audience whether he believes China’s influence in the Caribbean is akin to it recolonising the region, Gonsalves replied that within the seven-member Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), the governments of Saint Lucia, St Kitts-Nevis and St Vincent and the Grenadines envy diplomatic ties with Taiwan.

“The other country in the region that has diplomatic relations with Taiwan is Haiti.

“The mainland Chinese, from time to time, send their emissaries directly and indirectly for me to change the relations. We are not going to do so — let me make it plain.

“I have nothing, I don’t say anything, against mainland China. Our position is simple: There is one Chinese civilisation of which you can have more than one legitimate political organisers of State.”

He said Taiwan has been part of mainland China for centuries and that in 1949 defeated Chinese nationalists fled to the island.

“You cannot tell me that in order for me to have diplomatic relations with you, I have to break diplomatic relations with Taiwan. You can’t dictate to me. We have a relationship, [and] anytime you say that I can have relations with you while having with Taiwan, tomorrow morning I am ready to have relations with you.

“But we view that [it is] in our interest to maintain these relations,” Gonsalves said, highlighting the efforts his administration has been making over the years to get Taiwan accepted in the major global fora.

“What I want to see across the Taiwan Straits is peace, because if you think Ukraine is bad, if war breaks out across the Taiwan Straits — and I say it all the time, I don’t know if it is going to 200, 300 years from now, 50 years from now, 30 years from now — Taiwan and mainland China will work out their problems without anything to do with me,” Gonsalves said.

“They have a different view of time than we have,” he said, telling the audience, “do not expect me to pick a fight with a country with 1.4 billion people”.ROSEAU, Dominica (CMC)