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Foreign minister visited St. Lucia: ministry officials

"St. Lucia is playing the Taiwan card ... It seems to be telling Beijing, `Look, here comes Taipei. You'd better up your ante.'"

Liu Bi-rong, professor at Soochow University

Taipei confirmed yesterday that Foreign Minister James Huang (黃志芳) had met leaders in St. Lucia, a Chinese ally, on a trip likely to signal a new round of diplomatic jousting between Taipei and Beijing.

Huang's trip is "an indication that the diplomatic tug-of-war across the [Taiwan] Strait has intensified," said a foreign ministry official who asked not to be named.

"This is a rare case when Taiwan's foreign minister is invited to publicly visit China's diplomatic ally," he said.

Ministry spokesman David Wang (王建業) confirmed that Huang had met St. Lucian Prime Minister John Compton and members of his cabinet since Huang's arrival on Friday.

"The atmosphere of the meeting was friendly," Wang said.

"St Lucia is playing the Taiwan card," said Liu Bi-rong (劉必榮), a professor of political science at Soochow University. "It seems to be telling Beijing, `Look, here comes Taipei. You'd better up your ante.'"

Taiwan and St. Lucia opened diplomatic relations in 1984 when Compton was prime minister. It severed ties with Taipei in 1997 when prime minister Kenny Anthony switched recognition to Beijing. Compton was re-elected late last year.

Meanwhile, Wang said the ongoing visit will be conducive to the development of relations between the two countries.

The spokesman said that Huang and his delegation were receiving high-profile treatment from the St. Lucian government and were exchanging views on issues of mutual concern with government officials of the southern Caribbean state in a very positive atmosphere.

Following a secret visit to St. Lucia in mid-December when Compton assumed his post, Huang returned to the Caribbean state last Friday and held extensive talks with Compton and other senior officials, triggering a formal protest from the Chinese embassy in Castries, St. Lucia's capital.

Asked when the two states would re-establish diplomatic links, Wang said both parties were looking forward to strengthening bilateral cooperation in various fields, but added that Taiwan will respect whatever decision the St. Lucian government would make on the future development of bilateral relations.

At a time that Taiwan is facing a difficult diplomatic situation, St. Lucia made it a goodwill gesture by extending an invitation to the nation's foreign minister, a source said, adding that such a move has been intolerable to China even though substantive diplomatic ties will not necessarily be forged between Taiwan and St. Lucia.
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