Fostering greater relations with our friends in Taiwan

With St. Vincent and the Grenadines celebrating 25 years of Diplomatic Relations with Taiwan, Foreign Affairs Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Sir Louis Straker, has made an appeal for more countries to lobby for Taiwan’s presence at international forums.

The Foreign Affairs Minister made this disclosure to Searchlight during an interview on Thursday, August 3, to mark this country’s 25-year-old relationship with the East Asian country. {{more}}

According to the Foreign Affairs Minister, Taiwan needs more friends in the world to lobby on its behalf.

“There is nothing like when you feel that you are being encamped around by a host of enemies and you are faced with over 800 missiles and a population of 1.3 billion and your very existence is being threatened. Therefore, Taiwan needs friends,” the Sir Louis expressed.

Sir Louis noted that despite St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ being a mini-state, it is a sovereign state with a vote in the United Nations. With this advantage, he said, in any international forum St. Vincent and the Grenadines would continue to speak and represent the interest of Taiwan.

“Taiwan has the benefit of having friends like St. Vincent and the Grenadines promoting its interest that it should become part of the world system as an independent country, having lived an independent existence since 1949. The voice that we speak on behalf of Taiwan is greatly appreciated by the Taiwanese,” Sir Louis said.

Acknowledging Taiwan’s gratitude to the multi-island state, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Sir Louis said: “Taiwan does not seek to get from us any material help, although when they had a natural disaster some time ago we were able to send a token sum to them, that small gesture was symbolic to them.”

“We are hoping we can also tap on the Taiwanese living in North America. Once we have the international airport, they can use St. Vincent and the Grenadines as a destination and tourism would be one of the areas where we would have greater connection and interaction with the people of Taiwan,” Sir Louis said.