Camillo suggests SVG is Taiwan’s forever friend

Minister of Finance Camillo Gonsalves on Tuesday rejected the maxim that countries have permanent interests but not permanent friends or enemies, saying this is the thinking of imperialist nations seeking to dominate others.

“That is what a so-called great power will say because they want to be able to change friends like they change clothes and change justifications as the time sees fit, or change principles as the time sees fit,” he said at an event in Kingstown to mark Taiwan’s 113th National Day.

“But in small island states like ours, and in island states like Taiwan, we learn a different lesson: that it is in our Permanent interest to have permanent friends,” the finance minister said while representing Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves, who did not attend the event because he was “a bit under the weather”.

“And from the very early dawning of our independence, the early days of our ability to make our own decisions and choose our own friends, the people of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, through successive generations, have chosen and remain loyal to our friendship with the people of Taiwan.”

SVG and Taiwan established diplomatic ties in 1981 and there was bipartisan support for the relationship in Kingstown until 2016, when the opposition New Democratic Party said if elected to office, it would establish links with Beijing.

Gonsalves quoted dance hall artiste Cargo who sang, “We nah sell out we friend them”.

“And we pledge again today, that no matter what the inducements, no matter the threats, no matter the urgings, we in St. Vincent and the Grenadines nah sell out we friend dem in the people of Taiwan,” Gonsalves said.

“It is easy, if you want to measure friendship in tangible things, to talk about what Taiwan has done for us in material ways.”

He said the crowd at the reception included people who received their tertiary education in Taiwan and women entrepreneurs who received assistance from the women’s empowerment programme.

It also included young people and employers who benefited from the Taiwan-funded ON-SITE programme, which hires people to gain experience.

“In this crowd today are builders and engineers who are building roads and bridges across this country thanks to the support of the government and people of Taiwan.”

He said that whiel travelling to the event from his house, he drove across the ET Joshua Tarmac and the construction site of what will be “the most-advanced hospital in the Caribbean”.

On Murray’s Road, he also drove past the site for a modern parliament and a modern hall of justice, both of which are being financed by loans from Taiwan.

“And as I came around the corner, I got to the port which will be the most advanced cargo port anywhere in the Caribbean,” he said, referring to the US$200 million port, the financing of which includes a US$36 million grant from the United Kingdom, US$110 million in loans from the Caribbean Development Bank, and US$104.8 million from the government.

Gonsalves also noted loans from Taiwan will build the Marriot Hotel at Mt Wynne.

“And at every step of the way, I drove past a telephone pole that had a CCTV camera on it that was also funded and keeping us safe, thanks to the government and people of Taiwan.”

He, however, said that that is not how friendship is measured, noting that while SVG is grateful for the generosity, “we believe that we measure the friendship by the strength of the solidarity between our two countries”.

The finance minister said that when a typhoon hit Taiwan, SVG gave a token of US$40,000 not because Taiwan needed it “but because we wanted them to understand that the bonds of friendship and solidarity go two ways, and whatever little we can do to help we will always do to help the people of Taiwan.

“So, we use our voice in ways that Taiwan themselves cannot because they have been unjustly and unfairly excluded from international bodies due to an incorrect reading of an old Security Council resolution…

“… we stand up everywhere we go in international for a … and say, ‘This is a country that represents a people of worth and value, and they must have the right, like if we have a right to speak and be heard on international fora, so too must the 22 million people of Taiwan be heard and respected in international fora.

“And we’ll continue to make that point until they are able to rightfully take their place among the independent countries of the world and make these points for themselves.”

Gonsalves said “a measure of the solidarity is often the depth of the caring and the rapidity of the response”.

He noted that when Hurricane Beryl devastated SVG on July 1, the country received many calls of support and solidarity, but Taiwan was the first country to go beyond words and reach deeds and resources was Taiwan.

“And we’re grateful for them to answer our call in our hour of need,” he said.

“… when the devastation of Beryl meant that we were beginning to make the choice, ‘Should we really begin the construction of an 80 million US dollar hospital when we have houses to build, when we have people to feed, and should we reallocate money that was dedicated to this hospital and go elsewhere?’

“And we were leaning to saying, we have to do that. The Government and people of Taiwan stepped up and said, ‘Do what you’re doing with the money you are going to build the hospital with. We will build the hospital with our money.’”

The finance minister was referring to the US$125 million loan from Taiwan, US$80 million of which would go towards building the hospital.

“And for generations to come, when people are receiving world-class health care at that facility, we will be grateful to the rapidity of the response and the solidarity inherent in the response from the government and people of Taiwan.”

In April 2023, PM Gonsalves said that the loans from Taiwan, which then stood at EC$ $577 million — and have since risen to almost EC$1 billion — “put a hook in the gill of anybody” in SVG, who wants to break the diplomatic ties with Taiwan.

Meanwhile, the finance minister said on Tuesday that the partnership between Agriculture Minister Saboto Caesar and Taiwan will ensure that despite the impact of Hurricane Beryl, SVG’s fishers and farmers “will not give up our dream and our aspiration of continuing to be food secure and provide food to the people of the southern and eastern Caribbean”.

Gonsalves said SVG and Taiwan have “moved in lockstep in our developmental ambitions.

“Yes, if you go to Taiwan, you’ll see they may be further along in some economic markers than we are, but they are not so far removed from their developing past that they have forgotten what it means to be a developing country” he said.

“And because of that memory, they have solidarity with us, and this, all we celebrate today is a celebration of a friendship and a recognition that though we may be on different points on our developmental path, we are on the same path.”