Are our diplomatic relations with Taiwan worthwhile?
“A country does not have permanent friends, only permanent interests.” Lord Palmerston (1784 – 1865).
On March 17, 2026, St. Clair Leacock, our nation’s deputy prime minister and security boss, landed in Taiwan and told his host that St. Vincent and the Grenadines wanted to forge relations with Taiwan that would strengthen and transform them from mere friendship to those between family.
The declaration, by Leacock, who is the governing New Democratic Party’s first vice president, was the clearest sign yet that the party intended to renege on the expressed 2016 position, articulated by former leader Arnhim Eustace, that on assuming power, an NDP government would break diplomatic relations with Taiwan and establish ties with the People’s Republic of China.
PM Dr. Godwin Friday’s recent visit to Taipei coincided with the 45th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. “Mr President, our relationship has evolved to be more than friendship; it is partnership,” Prime Minister Friday said at a cocktail reception to celebrate the milestone.
Dr .Friday traced the history of the relationship and the ways it has benefited each country, and projected onto Kingstown-Taipei ties over the next five years.
“My hope is that when our countries gather for the 50th anniversary, we will be able to say that our relationship has grown five years deeper, with new ways of interaction between our people and governments.”
We may never know why Mr Eustace made the surprising announcement about the policy switch in 2016 shortly after losing the 2015 election.
Was the announcement to move to Beijing a reaction to his fourth consecutive defeat, the unpatriotic incestuous relationship that Gonsalves cultivated with Taiwan or a clear-cut, well-thought-out plan to bring our country in line with international diplomacy by aligning with the People’s Republic of China in anticipation of greater developmental prospects for our nation?
There were clues that the party was hedging its bets. In 2024, St. Clair Leacock made the fanciful claim that Eustace’s pronouncement might have caused the party to lose the 2020 elections.
Before the 2025 elections, Dr. Friday waffled when asked if the party would maintain ties with Taiwan.
Why did the NDP leadership get cold feet? Was it Taipei’s backing in the 2025 elections that swept the party into power after 24 years in political wilderness or a response to the vindictive and anti-developmental dictates of the Trump regime? Whichever the reason, Taiwan wins, and SVG lumbers on.
For Taiwan, retaining Kingstown is not trivial. SVG is one of only five Caribbean nations — and 12 worldwide — that maintain formal diplomatic ties with Taipei, a number that has shrunk steadily.
Since 2016, ten countries have switched recognition to Beijing. Each defection shrinks Taiwan’s diplomatic footprint and feeds a narrative of inexorable isolation.
The scorecard
After 45 years of relations with Taiwan, what does SVG have to show? St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ debt is estimated at EC$3.5 billion. Our debt to Taiwan is conservatively estimated at EC$932 million, a reality the unpatriotic and former PM Gonsalves gleefully described as a “hook in the gill” of our country. We maintain a debt-to-GDP burden of 113%. For every dollar we generate, nearly 40 cents goes toward debt servicing.
After 45 years of relations with a nation estimated to have US$954 billion in foreign currency reserves and a bustling industrial base, Taiwan’s assistance to SVG is akin to giving trinkets. There is not a single income-generating, unemployment-busting, or policy curative endeavour for which we can thank Taiwan.
For more than four decades, Taiwan has done agricultural experimentation in SVG. How has that scientific application assisted us to grow better or position us to attain food security? SVG has one of the largest seascapes in the Caribbean. Taiwan’s fishing trawlers, sailing through our waters, have harvested huge volumes of marine products, generating untold billions in profits. Taiwan ranks among the world’s top distant-water fishing nations with over 1,100 vessels. Yet Taiwan never offered us a single trawler or tangible training for our fisherfolk.
Yes, we receive about US$4 million annually to support the two youth internship programmes: the Support for Education and Training (SET) and the Youth Empowerment Service (YES). And then there are loans, loans and more loans.
In PM Friday’s most recent visit, Taiwan offered a measly US$2 million to support the development bank and a further US$1.5 million for social programmes. No word on the security support, including vehicles that Security Minister Leacock requested during his March 2026 visit.
When Taiwan cultivates a relationship in which one in every three dollars of our national debt is owed to it, that’s neither friendship nor partnership; that’s economic strangulation. This is a relationship of servitude, and Taiwan loves it.
Would relations with the People’s Republic of China be more beneficial? Plain Talk can’t be sure, but we speak with scientific certainty when we declare that it could never be worse. Of the 14 CARICOM countries, only five — Belize, Haiti, St Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines, seek partnership with Taiwan. The People’s Republic of China, the industrial workhorse of the world, a scientific and technological wonder, the world’s second largest economy and the nation that has lifted hundreds of millions of Chinese out of poverty in the last 50 years, is recognised by 181 of the 192 nations with seats at the United Nations.
In a test of true friendship and international solidarity, Venezuela, led by Presidents Chávez and Maduro, loaned generously to SVG. In 2018, Venezuela forgave EC$81 million that was owed to the ALBA bank. In 2022, President Maduro cancelled the remaining PetroCaribe debt of EC$189 million.
PM Friday disclosed what he termed as a “genuine willingness” by Taiwan to assist in easing SVG’s debt burden. If Taipei is serious, there was no better time or place for President Lai Ching-te to make a debt relief announcement than during PM Friday’s visit.
The NDP should respectfully provide Taiwan with a guidepost for matching Venezuela’s generosity. In parallel with these discussions, there must be conversations with Beijing seeking a development package that makes switching worthwhile.
After all, we must mature our foreign policy and live by the wise maxim “A country does not have permanent friends, only permanent interests.”
