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St Kitts’ failure to congratulate Ma ‘not serious’

Taiwan’s relations with St Kitts and Nevis remains firm despite an absence of a congratulatory note to president-elect Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) on his victory, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday, deflecting Vice President Annette Lu’s (呂秀蓮) suspicion of shaky ties with countries that have failed to express their well-wishes to Ma.

In an interview with a local print media on Wednesday, Lu said that the absence of congratulatory gestures from Taiwan’s allies, such as Guatemala, Burkina Faso and St Kitts and Nevis, was an indication of crumbling allegiances.

Minister of Foreign Affairs James Huang (黃志芳) yesterday refuted Lu’s comments, saying these countries were preparing to send their well-wishes to the president-elect and that the delay should not be interpreted as signs of shaky ties.

CEREMONY

So far, leaders from 10 allies have agreed to attend the May 20 inaugural ceremony, he said.

It was reported that Burkina Faso’s ambassador to Taiwan was ready to present congratulations from his president while Guatemala’s vice president was expected to attend the ceremony.

So far, St Kitts and Nevis is the only country that has not shown any indication it would congratulate Ma.

Ministry spokeswoman Phoebe Yeh (葉非比) said yesterday that bilateral ties between the two countries remained healthy, adding that just two months ago Prime Minister Denzil Douglas had led a high-ranking delegation to Taipei to open its embassy in Taiwan. The embassy was also its first in Asia.

Luo Chih-chiang (羅智強), a spokesman for the Ma camp, said that this was not the first time Taiwan-St Kitts relations were rumored to be unstable and that if the two countries broke relations in the next coming months, the pan-green camp should “contemplate who is responsible” for the severed ties and not shift the blame to the incoming government.

In related news, a group of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators accused the ministry of dereliction of duty for failing to offer to assist Ma on his request to visit the US prior to his inauguration.

VISIT

Two days after his victory in the presidential election, Ma made a request to American Institute in Taiwan Director Stephen Young to be allowed to visit the US prior to his inauguration.

The US has yet to reply to the request. It has been rumored that Ma aides retracted the request after being informed that Washington was unlikely to grant him the visit.

KMT Legislator John Chiang (蔣孝嚴), a former foreign minister, said that while it was the responsibility of the ministry to arrange all foreign visits for government officials, so far the Ma camp has had to deal with the matter on its own.

In response, Huang said yesterday that the ministry has tried to offer assistance but that the Ma camp had refused to give the ministry the lead on the matter.

The Ma camp had no comment on Huang’s comments and said it was making arrangements on its own.
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