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MOFA rejects accusations of meddling in St. Lucia

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebutted allegations from the main opposition party of St. Lucia that Ambassador Tom Chou (周台竹) was meddling in the Caribbean ally's internal affairs.

The St. Lucia Labour Party (SLP) said that Chou "has been meddling in political affairs of the state" and demanded his expulsion, the Caribbean News Agency (CANA) reported on Monday.

The SLP said Chou made donations to members of parliament belonging to the ruling United Workers Party [UWP], it said.

"Ambassador Chou has compromised the integrity of our country and abused the privileges extended to him. He has become a political activist" for the UWP, the SLP was quoted as saying.

The SLP urged St. Lucian Prime Minister Stephenson King to authorize an audit of all funds received from Taiwan by UWP lawmakers and demanded that they and Cabinet officials make public those funds received from Taiwan, the report said.

Foreign ministry spokeswoman Phoebe Yeh (葉非比) rebutted the allegations.

"The opposition party [SLP], which used to be the ruling party, has very close ties to China, and has been attempting to block diplomatic developments between Taiwan and St. Lucia since it lost power in December 2006," Yeh said in a telephone interview.

Shortly after Taiwan established diplomatic ties with St. Lucia, the SLP started to criticize the relationship, Yeh said.

"They accused our embassy of making political contributions to ruling party lawmakers," Yeh said. "The accusations are groundless."

Whenever Taiwan funded a project in the constituency of a UWP member of parliament, the opposition called it a "political contribution" to the ruling party, while the SLP itself "receives funds from China," she said.

"We regret such groundless accusations, however, we have no plan to recall Ambassador Chou," Yeh said.

Last night Chou told the Taipei Times that Taiwan made no donations to the UWP. He said Taiwan helped with small projects such as water programs, but that the funds for the projects were not handled by UWP members of parliament.
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