Visiting Saint Lucia Deputy Prime Minister Ernest Hilaire on Monday said that his five-day visit to Taiwan is intended to thank the country for being a “very special friend of Saint Lucia” and explore ways to deepen the two sides’ already cordial relationship.
Speaking to local media at the Saint Lucian embassy in Taipei, Hilaire, who arrived earlier that day, said the main goal of his first visit to Taiwan is to “express our appreciation and gratitude” to the government and people of Taiwan for the assistance and support they have given to his country.
“Taiwan is a very special friend of Saint Lucia,” Hilaire said, adding that the allies maintain strong bilateral relations in a number of areas.
Photo: CNA
The second objective of his visit is to talk with Taiwan’s government and private businesses about how to deepen those relations in terms of agriculture and healthcare systems, as well as in the field of creative industry and cultural exchanges, he said.
Hilaire, who is also Saint Lucia’s minister for tourism, investment, creative industries, culture and information, said that Taiwan is known for its advancements in the creative industry.
Earlier on Monday, he visited an old wooden Japanese house-turned cafe at Taipei tourism hotspot Yongkang Street.
Just by studying these examples in Taiwan, Hilaire said Saint Lucia can learn to transfer the Caribbean country’s historical relics into tourism attractions.
Speaking of the country’s diplomatic relations with the Republic of China (ROC), the deputy prime minister said that his government recognizes its “unique relationship” with Taiwan.
“If you go to Saint Lucia and you visited communities in a very direct way, you can see the benefits of that relationship with Taiwan; you will literally walk through the communities, and you will see footpaths, roads, retaining walls, you see school repair, you see housing repair,” he said.
“There’s so much you can see in the landscape of Saint. Lucia, that’s a direct relationship with Taiwan,” he added.
Asked about China’s influence in Latin America and the Caribbean region, Hilaire said it is for each country to make their own decision on relations with Beijing.
“We pride ourselves on appreciating the friendship that we have” with Taiwan, he added.
Asked about an upcoming baseball game in Taoyuan, Hilaire said he spent a few years as an administrator for the Cricket World Cup in the West Indies.
Therefore, he enjoys attending sporting events when visiting different countries, Hilaire said.
Although he does not know much about baseball, he added that he believes attending live sporting events is the best way to “feel the vibe and pulse” of local people.
“I mean you really can tell the nature of a society by how they relate to sport in life,” he said.
Hilaire’s delegation also includes Sidney Darwin Guard, chair of the Saint Lucian-government funded Cultural Development Foundation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
The Republic of China and Saint Lucia first established diplomatic relations in 1984, but ties were broken in 1997 when the Caribbean country switched recognition from Taipei to Beijing. In April 2007, Taiwan and Saint Lucia re-established diplomatic relations and China severed its ties with the latter.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard