The Embassy of the Republic of China (Taiwan) celebrated the country’s 108th Double Ten Day in advance with its Saint Lucian friends on Wednesday, October 9. Neither Prime Minister Allen Chastanet nor Taiwanese Ambassador Douglas Shen attended. They were leading Saint Lucia’s biggest delegation ever to Taiwan to authentically commemorate this year’s National Day.
Bill Shih-chang Huang, the embassy’s counsellor, delivered the welcome remarks in the packed Sandals Grande St Lucia Palladium Ballroom. He reviewed the investments by the Taiwanese government here, this year’s remarkable visit by Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and the future of the Taiwan-Saint Lucia relationship. Agriculture and food security remain two of Taiwan’s main objectives in bilateral co-operation, but Huang was visibly excited to mention new commitments including Hewanorra International Airport and St Jude Hospital rehabilitation projects.
“The Government of Taiwan helps train dozens of Saint Lucian skilled workers every year through a series of workshops,” he said. “We make sure that all relevant projects are of the people, by the people and for the people of Saint Lucia.”
In the haze of Taiwan losing seven diplomatic allies since 2016, two within a few days in September 2019, Huang—just as had President Tsai in her own Double Ten Day speech in Taiwan—spoke against China’s crippling hold on Hong Kong’s sovereignty and the suppression of other religious Chinese peoples. He said the protests in Hong Kong are indicative that the “one country, two systems” ideology which China imposes on both Hong Kong and Taiwan will not work, and is something which the rest of the world should not support.
Before thanking the prime minister for voicing support for Taiwan at this year’s United Nations General Assembly, Huang insisted that with Taiwanese assistance, there is not just talk; that Taiwanese diplomats also walk the walk.
“When one makes a deal with the devil, one sacrifices not only one’s own soul, but the future of posterity,” he said. “The corpses of failed investment projects have scattered all along the so-called Belt and Road route, as one country after another fell into debt traps and gave away their vital national infrastructures or natural resources. We can also find an abundance of such examples in Latin America and the Caribbean region, not least Saint Lucia with the colossal phantom of a ruined stadium. So next time, when those modern-day snake oil salesmen of the Orient come to fair Helen with false promises of easy loans and quick cash, my suggestion is to tell them frankly [in kwéyòl]: Ca pas pou mwen. For in this world there is no free lunch.”
Every Taiwanese ambassador to Saint Lucia has had a trademark and Ambassador Shen’s is his inclination to sing at celebrations. His stand-in chose instead to represent his ambassador by quoting Maya Angelou’s ‘Still I Rise’, emphasizing that with the help of allies like Saint Lucia, Taiwan will survive Beijing.
With toasts by acting prime minister Ezechiel Joseph and HE Sir Neville Emmanuel Cenac, Taiwan’s 108th National Day was marked in Saint Lucia. “As long as the UWP is the government in Saint Lucia, we will ensure that we support the government and people of Taiwan,” Joseph promised.
After the remarks, Governor General Cenac, Minister Joseph and Counsellor Huang cut a cake together.
