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Ambassador Tom Chou says he will not seek an audience with Kenny Anthony because of the constant attacks aimed at the embassy.
The back and forth between the Taiwanese Embassy and the opposition St Lucia Labour Party is on again. It seems after almost every Labour Party event the Taiwanese Embassy has to issue a statement to answer one accusation or another.
The word coming out of the Labour Party’s January 31st convention was that Opposition Leader Kenny Anthony had changed his tune on his party working with the Taiwanese. But not so fast. Kenny Anthony still had a major problem with the ambassador assigned to St Lucia, Tom Chou, among the reasons for this is that Chou had not requested a meeting with him.
“It is irrelevant whether I would have agreed to meet him,” Dr Anthony told his captive Labour audience. “Diplomatic courtesy commands him to ask for a meeting.”
The Opposition Leader also repeated an accusation he has been throwing around for some time about the distribution of Taiwanese funds.
Said Anthony: “We do not and have never opposed development assistance and support from Taiwan. We have repeatedly said that we welcome Taiwan’s assistance to this country, once such assistance is channeled through the Consolidated Fund in accordance with our financial laws.”
The Embassy was quick to respond with the following statement: “It is a diplomatic practice that a new Ambassador should request a meeting with the Minister for External Affairs and the head of state of the accredited country for presenting his credentials before assuming his duty as an ambassador. The rules of diplomatic courtesy do not compel ambassadors to meet with other dignitaries, including the Leader of the Opposition. One of the most important considerations to arrange courtesy calls for ambassadors is the atmosphere of mutual respect between the two parties. The constant attack on Ambassador Chou by the Leader of the Opposition with unfounded allegations does make such a courtesy call arrangement difficult for evident reasons.”
The statement also touched on Dr Anthony’s criticism of Taiwan’s aid programs.
“With regard to the aid programs, the Embassy welcomes Labour Party’s new position on accepting Taiwan’s aid programs in St Lucia. Furthermore, the Embassy wishes to reiterate that before implementing our aid programs, including the wall project around the Vieux Fort Field, the Embassy always consults the government first. The Embassy did not and will not deal with any individual directly or bypass the government. There is a sound mechanism that requires every stakeholder to follow. The current mechanism of implementing joint effort projects are agreed by our two governments. It is an efficient mechanism which can cut the unnecessary red tapes and deliver satisfactory results in a short period of time. People around the world are more interested in actions and results, not red tapes. The concept of consolidated fund is not accepted by most of the donor countries. In this regard, the Embassy wishes to make it very clear that it has never received any instruction from Government of Taiwan for putting our aid resources to the consolidated fund of the local government, as indicated by St Lucia Labour Party. It is very inappropriate for St Lucia Labour Party to make up such an irresponsible rumour.”
The Embassy hit back at accusations they were giving money to government MPs.
Opposition Leader Kenny Anthony says his problem is with the current Taiwan ambassador and not Taiwan.
“With regard to the untrue accusation of awarding millions of dollar or contracts to the ruling party parliamentarians or their supporters by the Embassy, the Leader of the Opposition, once again, failed to provide any supporting evidence. The Embassy urges St Lucia Labour Party to refrain from making up stories which may discourage foreign assistance and hurt the innocent people of this country.”
meeting with the Minister for External Affairs and the head of state of the accredited country for presenting his credentials before assuming his duty as an ambassador. The rules of diplomatic courtesy do not compel ambassadors to meet with other dignitaries, including the Leader of the Opposition. One of the most important considerations to arrange courtesy calls for ambassadors is the atmosphere of mutual respect between the two parties. The constant attack on Ambassador Chou by the Leader of the Opposition with unfounded allegations does make such a courtesy call arrangement difficult for evident reasons.”
The statement also touched on Dr Anthony’s criticism of Taiwan’s aid programs.
“With regard to the aid programs, the Embassy welcomes Labour Party’s new position on accepting Taiwan’s aid programs in St Lucia. Furthermore, the Embassy wishes to reiterate that before implementing our aid programs, including the wall project around the Vieux Fort Field, the Embassy always consults the government first. The Embassy did not and will not deal with any individual directly or bypass the government. There is a sound mechanism that requires every stakeholder to follow. The current mechanism of implementing joint effort projects are agreed by our two governments. It is an efficient mechanism which can cut the unnecessary red tapes and deliver satisfactory results in a short period of time. People around the world are more interested in actions and results, not red tapes. The concept of consolidated fund is not accepted by most of the donor countries. In this regard, the Embassy wishes to make it very clear that it has never received any instruction from Government of Taiwan for putting our aid resources to the consolidated fund of the local government, as indicated by St Lucia Labour Party. It is very inappropriate for St Lucia Labour Party to make up such an irresponsible rumour.”
The Embassy hit back at accusations they were giving money to government MPs.
“With regard to the untrue accusation of awarding millions of dollar or contracts to the ruling party parliamentarians or their supporters by the Embassy, the Leader of the Opposition, once again, failed to provide any supporting evidence. The Embassy urges St Lucia Labour Party to refrain from making up stories which may discourage foreign assistance and hurt the innocent people of this country.”
RSS
The professional vs. the amateur
It’s called glory days, how the mighty fade in the luster of untouchable Eastern treasures.
Who does Kenny think he’s hurting? Is he being patriotic? He’s not hurting King, or the UWP but the people of St.Lucia benefiting from Taiwan’s current support. As a St. Lucian this has made me so furious, I can’t believe the SLP lacked the intestinal fortitude to remove Kenny from the helm of that party. It is shameful!! If he was a real statesman he would know better than to stand on a political platform and make unfounded accusations! We must all realize we now live in a multilateral and technologically advanced world, it requires very little to ruin diplomatic ties as well as reputations. I ask, what good would that serve the St.Lucian people?
Am I to understand that Mr. Chou disclaims the funds given to the UWP parliamentarians. Didn’t Marcus and Jenine admit to the million dollars received from the representative from Taiwan? Well, well, well…….If I’m sitting in the jury box, the guilt is overwhelming.
The more we see the effect of the presence of the Taiwanese in St. Lucia and the positive results of establishing diplomatic relations with them, the more we become exposed to the utter selfishness and anti-St. Lucian posturing of Kenny Anthony in his positioning on the Taiwan/China issue.
Dr. Anthony exposed himself as a self centered useless leader incapable of even being an effective Opposition Leader.
Concerned with only his personal standing with the Chinese who were understandably so dissapointed with him for embarassing them with his handling of affairs in St. Lucia , Dr. Anthony pursued a disloyal alter-foreign policy and insulted St. Lucia’s Government with his further rudeness to the Taiwanese people and Government.
Contrast the fiscal irresponsibility of Dr. Anthony with the effective utilization of funds by the Government of St. Lucia in conjunction with the Taiwanese.
Contrast the petulant, ineffectiveness of Dr. Anthony with the solid steady demeanor of Ambassador Chou.
Dr. Anthony even wants money sent straight into the Consolidated Fund just as he did before and where the main inefficiencies took place with billions of St. Lucia taxpayers money.
The telling point is this.
Dr. Antnony and his hacks in the upper echelon of the SLP wasted over $150-$200 million a year between 1997 and 2006. In this way they racked up over $1,000,000,000 in debt on the backs of St. Lucians.
Along come the Taiwanese and with good intentions, efficient management, a clear concern to make utilized funds go a long way to achieving ends , spend substantially less but have such tremendeous results to show the people of St. Lucia. The reconfigured mental institution, computers, water systems, a amazing orchid greenhouse set up, banana facilities( that actually work !), an abattoir, walkways and now vehicles for the police. $1.00 spent by the Taiwanes has the same effect as $100 spent by Kenny.
The Taiwanese identify areas of concern and of bottlenecks and improve the quality of life of St. Lucians without the rancour and divisiveness of Dr. Anthony and his supporters.
In 2011 St. Lucians will have a choice. Go back to Dr. Anthony with his destructiveness or stay with the UWP and their friends who make a difference.
If we are logically concerned with our children, our people below the poverty line and the fall in our standards of living we can only contrast what took place under Dr. Anthony with how well funds available from the Taiwanese are being utilized.
As one poster said: ” The professional vs. the amateur”
We had a petulant narcissitic amateur running our affairs between 1997-2006.
I watched the opening ceremony of the winter Olympics in British Columbia Canada, It was quite riveting.It looked like the crazy amount of monies spent by the Chinese on the last Summer Olympics was not emulated , but it was very artsy, original, visually stimulating and highlighted the Native American cultural. Oh one more thing It was interesting to see that ,The Chinese Republic of Taipei was there. Anyone would like to guess which country that is.
Joseph, you sound angry and arrogant. You sound like someone who is ignorant of the contributions the Chinese and other host countries made to St. Lucia. You’re prepared to make a comparison. I don’t think you live in St. Lucia or have visited home in the last ten years. Give me a break. I really should not dignify that with an answer………goodbye, son.
Irregardless of the merit or otherwise of the leader of the Opposition’s analysis of the government’s diplomatic relations with Taiwan or any other country, diplomatic missions should never directly involve themselves the party politics of the host state.
The Ambassador’s retort to the Opposition comments in word and tone is condescending and presumption, emotive and downright undiplomatic and seems to demonstrate a trend if one considers the rumoured million dollar disbursements
to government Ministers neutrality would require that if such disbursements are provided to Government Members of Parliament then they should also be provided to Opposition members of Parliament as they both have equally deserving constituents.
And further if true then are these monies no longer subject to the normal checks and balances of monies held in the Consolidated Fund if so then all St. Lucian’s should be concerned in particular given the international renown reputation for corruption in Taiwan and China and China’s exploitative relationship with Africa.
I remind those who perceive Taiwan as a distinct entity from China of the fact that the economies, businesses and cultures of these two territories are very closely intertwined and demonstrative of the Three China’s policy of the Communist regime in Beijing that is Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan are into one international Statist, Corporatist Politico-economic strategy each dependent on the other and integrated into each others financial, economic, and corporate part of one global agenda. Consider yourselves warned.
What is now required is that St. Lucia’s army of under employed journalist investigate the much talked about monies St. Lucian’s should be ready to demonstrate that they are not for sale and are a people of integrity who do not abide by the notoriously corrupt practices of Chinese and Taiwanese political systems.
What is evident from the tone of the reported response is the…
What is evident from the tone of the reported response is the disdain and contempt the ambassador holds for the St. Lucian Opposition party who are simply engaging their democratic duty to scrutinize the policies and actions of the incumbents.
finally please, if the Taiwanese are to buid any more developments in St. Lucia kindly ensure that the ,bland uninspiring depressing, Communist China, architecture is avoided and creative local Caribbean architects given the nod instead and be wary of strangers bearing gifts.
There comes a point when the truth can not be denied. There comes a time when you have to say it like it is. All politics is local. People will prove that to the Labour Party come the next election. Lets face it Dr.Anthony knows that the Taiwanese funded programmes are making a difference. He knows local communities can identify with local projects to their benefit. So how does he react. He demands and writes to the Tawianese government that Ambassador Chou should be recalled. Political posturing at its grandest.
First no country likes to be told what to do. China on Human Righrts, Iran on enrichment, Isreal on the building of new Jewish settlement. Need I go on. Did Dr.Anthony expect that the Twianese to write back and say. We know you support China over us. We know you have issues with the way we have spent our money in St.Lucia…but forget all that Ambassadoe Chou will be recalled because you KA has demanded it. LLL let me point out that there is a system of administering the projects. Payments are made in stages, hence Jeanie was able to give a break down of the money spent in her area. Wake up LLL. Elections are coming round fast. Keep on pretending that all is well in the land of Labour. Just keep on.