CASTRIES, St Lucia, November 26th, 2012 -- On October 16, 2012, the Lucian People’s Movement (LPM) issued a statement accusing Saint Lucia’s prime minister of meddling in the affairs of China and Taiwan during a speech at the United Nations.
That statement, while it was carried by a number of news organisations throughout the Caribbean region and the world, was apparently ignored by certain sectors of Saint Lucia’s local media, for reasons that are becoming very obvious according to the LPM.
In that statement, the LPM said: “It is a grave disservice to the island for a prime minister with no international influence or power to use part of his allotted time in an address to the United Nations, where he should be focused on making a solid case for a speedy recovery of Saint Lucia’s economy, instead to seek to present himself as an adjudicator for a Chinese takeover of Taiwan.”
The LPM went on to add: “Kenny Anthony’s naiveté in believing that he is able to force unification on the government and people of Taiwan is a glaring example of a Caribbean leader who is clearly out of touch with the realities of that region and the world. To believe that Taiwan, a prosperous democratic state, with two distinct political organizations with millions of supporters on either side that hold very contrasting views about their future, will voluntarily cede their sovereignty to China is not only delusional but dangerous, at best.”
In its statement of October 16, the LPM also took the liberty of enlightening Saint Lucia’s prime minister on the history of the conflict, including the true meaning of the current rapprochement between China and Taiwan, and urged him to pursue policies that are serious and tangible in the interests of Saint Lucia, and to “refrain from allowing himself to become bogged down in an international squabble in Asia that he does not seem to understand fully from a historical perspective”.
The LPM now says that it is reliably informed that Dr Kenny Anthony’s statement at the 67th session of the UN General Assembly “touting cross-strait unification” has angered lawmakers in Taiwan, prompting them to freeze funds that were earmarked for participation in UN-affiliated agencies.
Dr Anthony’s speech has also placed the ruling Nationalist Party on Taiwan (KMT) under heavy pressure in having to explain whether their new ambassador to Saint Lucia, James Chang, might have given Saint Lucia’s prime minister the wrong idea about cross-strait unification (an obvious precondition for Anthony’s decision to remain with Taiwan), and which may have later prompted his misguided conclusion or interpretation, during his speech at the UN, of what the existing rapprochement between China and Taiwan means.
In a story appearing in the China Post on October 19, 2012, one lawmaker described Anthony’s speech at the UN as a serious “misunderstanding and misinterpretation that runs against the mainstream opinion of the Taiwanese people”.
Therefore, in light of the backlash that Anthony’s speech has apparently caused in Taiwan, the Lucian People’s Movement says that it is very concerned that Anthony may have jeopardized the interests of the people of Saint Lucia with his ill-advised political rhetoric and personal obsession with meddling in the affairs of China and Taiwan.
Moreover, given the fact that the Taiwanese government did agree earlier this year to foot a big chunk of Anthony’s $1.457 billion budget, the LPM has called upon Anthony to explain to the Saint Lucian people whether any of the funds that had already been appropriated towards the development of Saint Lucia have been frozen or are under threat of being frozen by lawmakers on Taiwan.
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St. Lucia News