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PRC's intimidation will not influence St. Lucia: minister

St. Lucia will not change its decision to re-establish diplomatic relations with Taiwan, despite intimidation from China, St. Lucian Minister of Foreign Affairs Rufus Bousquet said on Thursday.

Stressing that St. Lucia is a sovereign country with the right to choose its allies, Bousquet urged China to stop interfering in his country's internal affairs.

Bousquet told the Central News Agency that since becoming aware of St. Lucia's plan to restore ties with Taiwan, Beijing has threatened to terminate its cooperation projects with St. Lucia and even withdraw from the Caribbean Development Bank, a financial institution assisting Caribbean nations in financing social and economic programs.

Between mid-March and late last month, when St. Lucia's Cabinet was debating whether to resume diplomatic ties with Taiwan, China suspended various development projects it funded in St. Lucia, including a mental hospital near the capital, Bousquet said.

He said that Beijing had also asked the leaders of its allies in the Caribbean region as well as the secretary-general of the Caribbean Community to call St. Lucian Prime Minister John Compton to exert pressure on his country.

St. Lucia first established diplomatic ties with Taiwan in 1984, but then switched diplomatic recognition to Beijing in 1997.

The Caribbean nation announced its decision to restore diplomatic relations with Taiwan April 26. On April 30, Bousquet and his Taiwanese counterpart, James Huang (黃志芳), signed a joint communique on restoring ties between the two countries in Castries.

A confidential document obtained by Taiwan said that China, in an effort to persuade St. Lucia not to restore ties with Taiwan, had put forth an economic and technological project worth 300 million yuan (US$38.93 million) and offered to donate US$3 million to the St. Lucian government and provide it with interest-free loans.

Last week, China increased its offers to US$300 million in donations and US$1 billion in loans for the St. Lucian government, as well as US$1.5 million for each member of Parliament, said Lee Chao-cheng (李朝成), head of Taiwan's embassy in St. Lucia.

Lee said a cutthroat diplomatic battle between Taiwan and China was going on in St. Lucia amid China's attempt to reverse the situation, but Taiwan would not resort to checkbook diplomacy as China had.

Meanwhile, Bousquet said the new St. Lucian government led by Compton -- a long-time friend of Taiwan -- had originally not intended to deal with the issue of its ties with Taiwan so early, but the Cabinet's overwhelming support for the resumption of St. Lucia-Taiwan relations prompted Compton to make the announcement last week.

Noting that Compton and his United Workers Party had promised to boost St. Lucia's agricultural development, increase employment opportunities for its citizens and narrow the urban-rural development gap, Bousquet said that he believed Taiwan has strong abilities to assist St. Lucia achieve these goals.
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