Prior to the arrival of President Tsai Ing-Wen of the Republic of China (Taiwan) in Saint Lucia, local media houses received an invitation to the several “media opportunities” during her stay. The list included a sod-turning ceremony for the St. Jude redevelopment project, the opening of the Gros Islet Human Resource Development Centre, and a visit to the Inland Reception and Distribution Centre.
On Thursday, all roads led to the House of Parliament. Following a police parade, President Ing-Wen made her grand entrance to address the gathering of parliamentarians, senators and invited guests. Also in attendance were about thirty Taiwanese reporters, a crew from the National Television Network (NTN) and two local reporters inclusive of the writer. To our surprise, moments before the proceedings got underway, local reporters were told by apparent security that the event was only to be covered by the Taiwanese and NTN. Efforts at explaining our invitation to cover the event fell on deaf ears. A press pass issued by the parliament office some thirty minutes earlier served no purpose.
Shortly after the session, parliamentarians and the Ing-Wen-led delegation proceeded to nearby Constitution Park for the launch of Phase II of the GINet project. This time local press representatives encountered no barriers. The Prime Minister’s Senior Communications Officer Nicole McDonald blamed the earlier situation on “a miscommunication”; it was never intended that the local press should be left out. “There was no decision at all to exclude local press from anything,” she said.
As if in support of McDonald, at the launch the Foreign Affairs Minister Sarah Flood Beaubrun thanked both the local and foreign media for their services. “If we were going to do this and nobody would know about it, well, that would be an unhealthy thing. Sometimes we just take it for granted that this is going to be reported. The press works very hard to ensure the world knows what Taiwan and Saint Lucia are doing together.”
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