On Sunday, Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves of St Vincent (SVG) stated that his country desires mature diplomacy and constructive dialogue between mainland China and Taiwan in order to achieve peace across the Taiwan Strait.
Tensions in the region are running high as China steps up its military presence following the Taiwanese president’s visit to the US.
Gonsalves on Sunday said if open warfare breaks out across the Taiwan Straits, the Ukraine-Russia conflict will be “baby play.”
On Tuesday, speaking to CNN, Taiwan’s foreign minister, Joseph Wu, said: “Look at the military exercises and also their rhetoric—they seem to be trying to get ready to launch a war against Taiwan.”
“If war breaks out across the Taiwan Straits, the knock-on effect from the war in Ukraine will be mild compared to that one.” “The world will be thrown into convulsions, and we may be on the road to a nuclear Armageddon”, Gonsalves stated.
Beijing has warned that recent drills simulating the encirclement of the island nation were intended as a “serious warning” to pro-independence politicians in Taiwan.
The Prime Minister said one of the interesting things is that as countries leave Taiwan in terms of formal diplomatic relations in several parts of the world, important countries are looking at Taiwan as being more and more important.
“You take European countries and North America, and many countries in Asia and Latin America are doing a lot of trade with Taiwan. Cultural arrangements and the like are there because Taiwan and mainland China are in the WTO as territories. China is there as the PRC, the People’s Republic of China, and China and Taiwan trade, and nearly half of Taiwan’s foreign overseas investments are in mainland China”, Gonsalves said.
Gonsalves says SVG does not see itself as having an antagonistic relationship with mainland China.
“We just have historic relations with Taiwan, and it has been a good relationship, and we share a lot of values together,” Gonsalves said.
According to Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves’ declaration on Sunday, his administration will uphold the alliance with Taiwan that the SVLP, or St. Vincent Labour Party, established in 1981.
