Taiwan official visits Caribbean island, irks China

Taipie, Mar 26: Taiwan's foreign minister has visited St Lucia, despite a lack of diplomatic ties, causing concern in Beijing, which has formal relations with the Caribbean nation, a Taiwan Foreign Ministry spokesman said today.

Foreign Minister James Huang visited St. Lucia on Friday, at the host government's invitation, to discuss cooperation projects, ministry spokesman David Wang said.

He declined to say what projects had been discussed or why St Lucia had asked for the visit.

''It's something you'd have to ask them,'' Wang said.

China, which sees self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory rather than as a separate country, told St. Lucia it was ''not happy'' with the visit, Wang said. Beijing forbids its diplomatic allies from all official contact with Taiwan.

Officials in Beijing had no immediate comment.

Taiwan and China compete, sometimes via chequebook diplomacy, for diplomatic recognition around the world, especially in poorer regions such as Latin America.

St Lucia, a tropical resort island 43 km long, was a Taiwan diplomatic ally for 13 years. Since it broke ties with Taiwan in 1997, the ruling party has changed, Wang said. Changes in domestic politics have led other small nations to switch allegiance between Taiwan and China.

Taiwan has 24 diplomatic allies and has been losing them at about one per year since 2000 as China's status around the world grows and it offers aid in exchange for diplomatic recognition. China now has about 170 diplomatic allies.

Reuters

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