The relationship between Taiwan and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines has grown steadily, especially over the past two years, the Caribbean country’s embassy in Taiwan said while marking the 40th anniversary of diplomatic ties.
“These two island nations, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and the Republic of China, are bound by the principles of mutual respect for each other’s sovereignty, democracy and their people’s right to self-determination,” Andrea Bowman, the nation’s ambassador to Taiwan, said on Friday. “The integrity of this alliance has stood the tests and vicissitudes of time. We look forward to more than 40 more years of friendship, freedom, [and] prosperity,” she said.
“Friendship, Freedom, Prosperity” is the slogan that won a competition among Vincentians to celebrate 40 years of diplomatic relations between their country and Taiwan, which were established on Aug. 15, 1981.
In a statement, the Saint Vincent and the Grenadines embassy in Taiwan said cooperation between the two countries in the areas of agriculture, health, education and technology has affected 110,000 Vincentians since formal diplomatic ties were founded.
Ten years later, Taiwan’s International Cooperation and Development Fund was established in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, bringing social changes and improvements to infrastructure to the country, the statement said.
Since 2004, approximately 220 Vincentian students have been given scholarships by Taiwan to acquire undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate degrees at Taiwanese universities, it said. Bilateral ties were further “concretized” after the country opened its embassy in Taipei on August 8, 2019.
“Taiwan has worked very generously with Saint Vincent and the Grenadines towards combating the pandemic caused by COVID-19, even while addressing its own challenges in this regard,” the embassy said.
Taiwan has also pledged US$300,000 toward the Caribbean country’s relief efforts following explosive eruptions of the La Soufriere volcano in April 2021, it said.
Taiwanese citizens and Vincentians in Taiwan have also together contributed more than NT$561,000 (US$20,145) to the volcano relief efforts.
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines has used its seat on the UN Security Council to advocate for Taiwan’s inclusion in UN decisionmaking bodies, including the World Health Assembly, over the past two years, the embassy said.
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines formalized ties with Taiwan less than two years after it gained independence from the UK on Oct. 27, 1979.
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) after the US Supreme Court ruled US President Donald Trump's global tariffs unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters before a legislative hearing today, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that Taiwan's negotiation team remains focused on ensuring that the bilateral trade deal remains intact despite the legal challenge to Trump's tariff policy. "The US has pledged to notify its trade partners once the subsequent administrative and legal processes are finalized, and that certainly includes Taiwan," Cho said when asked about opposition parties’ doubts that the ART was
If China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. In a Taiwan contingency, cable disruption would be one of the earliest preinvasion actions and the signal that escalation had begun, he said, adding that Taiwan’s current cable repair capabilities are insufficient. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) yesterday held a hearing on US-China Competition Under the Sea, with Hsu speaking on
RSS