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11th Feburary 2010
CHOU PUNCHES BACK
M.G. George

Tom Chou, the Taiwanese Ambassador to Saint Lucia yesterday responded to allegations made by opposition leader Dr. Kenny Anthony about the former’s disregard of diplomatic practices and protocol by not requesting a meeting with Dr. Anthony on his arrival in Saint Lucia to take up ambassadorial duties for his country.
Dr. Anthony, at his party’s annual conference last month in Vieux Fort accused Ambassador Chou of snubbing diplomatic practices and protocol by stating that it was normal for all accredited diplomats, on their appointment, to request a meeting with the Leader of the Opposition.
But Ambassador Chou thinks differently noting in a press release that “It is a diplomatic practice that a new Ambassador should request a meeting with the Minister for External Affairs and the head of state of the accredited country for presenting his credential before assuming his duty as an ambassador. The rules of diplomatic courtesy do not compel Ambassadors to meet with other dignitaries, including the Leader of the Opposition. One of the most important considerations to arrange courtesy calls for Ambassadors is the atmosphere of mutual respect between the two parties. The constant attack on Ambassador Chou by the Leader of the Opposition with unfounded allegations does make such a courtesy call arrangement difficult for evident reasons.”
Dr Anthony at the time noted his party’s problem with Taiwan is not with the country but rather with the ambassador, “He is our problem, he has disrespected our laws, our people and our party,” Dr. Anthony said.
With regard to the aid programs undertaken by the Taiwanese Embassy here in conjunction with the government and which Dr. Anthony took a swipe at during his address at the annual conference Ambassador Chou had this to say:
“The Embassy welcomes the labour Party’s new position on accepting Taiwan’s aid programmes in St. Lucia. Furthermore, the Embassy wishes to reiterate that before implementing our aid programs, including the wall project around the Vieux Fort Field, the Embassy always consult the government first.

 
 

The Embassy did not and will not deal with any individual directly or bypass the government. There is a sound mechanism that requires every stakeholder to follow.
“The current mechanism of implementing joint effort projects is agreed by our two governments. It is an efficient mechanism which can cut the unnecessary red tape and deliver satisfactory results in a short period of time. People around the world are more interested in actions and results - not red tape,” the embassy noted in its release.
Dr. Anthony at the conference said that he understood that the Government of Taiwan had directed its ambassadors in the Eastern Caribbean to channel their assistance through the Consolidated Fund in accordance with financial laws. Responding to that directly Tom Chou had this to say:
“The concept of a consolidated fund is not accepted by most of the donor countries. In this regard, the Embassy wishes to make it very clear that it has never received any instruction from the Government of Taiwan for putting our aid resources into the consolidated fund of the local government, as indicated by St. Lucia Labour Party. It is very inappropriate for the St. Lucia Labour Party to make such an irresponsible statement,” Ambassador Chou noted in the statement.
Responding to allegations of awarding million dollar contracts to government parliamentarians the release from the Taiwanese Embassy noted thus:
“With regard to the untrue accusation of awarding millions of dollar or contracts to the ruling party parliamentarians or their supporters by the Embassy, the Leader of the Opposition, once again, failed to provide any supporting evidence. The Embassy urges St. Lucia Labour Party to refrain from making up stories which may discourage foreign assistance and hurt the innocent people of this country.”

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