Nothing has changed in the diplomatic status between Barbados and the People’s Republic of China, says Senior Minister of Foreign Affairs Kerrie Symmonds.
He was speaking against the backdrop of China issuing a warning to the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan after those countries congratulated Lai Ching-te for again winning Taiwan’s recent presidential election.
Media reports indicated that a spokesperson for the US state department congratulated the Taiwanese people “for once again demonstrating the strength of their robust democratic system and electoral process”. That prompted the China’s foreign ministry to respond that the statement “seriously violated US promises that it would only maintain cultural, economic and other non-official ties with Taiwan”.
In the case of the UK, its foreign secretary, David Cameron, said the result was “testament to Taiwan’s vibrant democracy”. But the Chinese embassy in the UK said it “firmly opposed the wrong practices of the British side”, while urging the UK to “stop any words or deeds that interfere in China’s internal affairs”.
There was no such reaction to the elections from Barbados and Symmonds said the Taiwanese election have absolutely no impact whatsoever on the relationship with China since 1976.
“We established diplomatic relations with China and it is commonly understood to be following what is known as the One China policy and simply put that is diplomatic acknowledgement of China’s position that there is only one Chinese government … as far as we are concerned we recognise and have formal ties with China rather than the island of Taiwan,” he said.
Symmonds pointed out that since 1976 Taiwan had several elections noting it never changed “our very robust and very official relationship with the government of the People’s Republic of China”.
“I believe that there may be some sensitivities in other parts of the world but that does not impact Barbados. I could not get involved in the saber rattling between China and the United States or China and the UK nor, quite frankly, would I want to get involved in that. I can only tell you that there is a very distinct principle that the Government of Barbados follows and remains committed to, and that is the One China Policy and the one China principle, that China insists that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China and that they will be unified one day. If that is China’s position, that is China’s position,” the Senior Minister said.
In the Caribbean there are one or two countries that supported Taiwan, he stated, but that was within the sovereign right of every state to decide with whom they want to have diplomatic relations. (AC)
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