With approximately 23 million people, the Taiwanese consider their country a small island. Yet, it holds some of the top positions in the global economy, international trade and technology. In 2017 Taiwan ranked as the world’s 16th largest merchandise exporter and, as of December 2017, the country’s foreign exchange reserves were valued
at US$ 451.5 billion.
The Republic of China (Taiwan) and its ambassadors to our island maintain nearly monthly headlines as Taiwan expresses unmatched generosity to Saint Lucia. Presently, Taiwan is slated to fund major developmental projects here, including what might be the current administration’s defining undertaking: the St Jude Hospital Redevelopment Project. Additionally, Taiwan’s Eximbank is the loaning enterprise for the government’s airport redevelopment, road reconstruction and school rehabilitation projects.
The East Asian country has also lent a helpful hand in banana productivity and other farming and agricultural activities, focusing heavily on educating Saint Lucians to make the best use of grants and funding for many years. Meanwhile there are scores of Saint Lucians benefitting from Taiwan’s
fully-funded scholarship opportunities.
But why exactly does Taiwan invest so much in Saint Lucia? Anyone who has interacted with one of the Taiwanese Embassy’s employees might think that it’s just because they are simply an extraordinarily generous people. Taiwanese cashiers pass on your shopping receipt with both hands, sealed with a bow. And, despite the language barrier, Taiwanese people go out of their way to assist confused tourists. The cynical visitor might well
imagine there’s more to the Taiwanese attitude, considering the country’s reliance on local support at global forums such as the United Nations and the World Health Assembly. The more informed would know the demonstrated good manners is merely Taiwanese culture.
The Taiwanese government’s willingness to assist Small Island Developing States in their growth, in any case, is more than welcome.
It might surprise Saint Lucians and other Caribbean islanders that Taiwan’s main industry was once agriculture. For most of the year, Taiwan has climatic conditions similar to ours and produces similar agricultural products: papayas, mangoes, bananas, wax apples, coconuts and pineapples, among them.
The Taiwanese experience seasonal typhoons and frequent seismic activity. Taiwan was also once a regular recipient of international aid and funding for its infrastructure and development.
With so many similarities with SIDS, information on how Taiwan came to be in a position to offer so much assistance should be a major resource for its diplomatic allies in the Caribbean. Post 1950s the Taiwan Miracle began to unravel, making the country’s thriving economy what it is today. A series of Taiwan’s farsighted development strategies was accompanied by the country’s united effort to change its main industries to suit the world’s shifting demands from tea to fibres, consumer electronics, semiconductor manufacturing and technology. Its government supported private sector investments and policies to facilitate international trade.
Currently Taiwan faces challenges of overcoming air pollution, and in 2019’s first quarter its economy stumbles through the US-China trade wars and a decreasing global demand for electronics. The latter is nothing new to the country; it weathered through the 2009 financial crisis and similar demand fluctuations in 2015.
But on a note more personal to us, Taiwan wishes to share its knowledge by offering green energy solutions, education opportunities, health-care strategies, best farming practices and investment expertise. On at least three occasions during Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs International Cooperation and Development press tour this year, while referencing Taiwan’s relationship with countries like Saint Lucia, the phrase, “It’s better to teach a man how to fish than to just give him fish,” was emphasized.
The annual press tour this year ran from Sunday May 19 to Friday May 24. Invitations were extended to journalists from ten Caribbean and Pacific countries, enabling them to visit Taiwan’s major universities, innovative hospitals, agricultural department and technology and communications solutions companies.
Taiwan’s International Cooperation and Development Fund is focusing on five of the UN’s fifteen Sustainable Development Goals: zero hunger, good health and well-being, quality education, decent work and economic growth, partnership for the goals. How we use their assistance is up to us.
