Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit has once again defended his government’s decision to establish diplomatic relations with China, as Beijing reiterated its desire to maintain a “profound” friendship with the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country.
Skerrit, addressing the launch of the Dominica-China Friendship Association over the last weekend, said 18 years ago his administration had made the “bold” decision in establishing diplomatic relations with China in accordance with international law.
“In our global environment characterized by conflict, economic and social unrest, disease and climate crises there is a need for even more effective engagement and exchanges among countries,” he said, noting that through communication, people-to-people interaction, and bilateral engagements between governments “we can create new opportunities for our people to help them transcend the challenges of the time.
“As we have seen of over 18 years of friendship both of our peoples stand to gain much from the collaboration between Dominica and China. When I took the bold decision to establish formal ties with China in 2004, I did so with the interest and well-being of Dominican people…and the respect of international law that there is but One China.
“Years later we have had ample evidence that this was a sound decision which has enhanced the lives of the Dominican people and contributed to our country’s advancement in several developmental sectors,” Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit said, noting Beijing’s role in education, agriculture, and health sectors.
In his address, China’s ambassador to Dominica, Lin Chen Jiang spoke of the “profound friendship” of Dominicans toward China noting that the association marks “an important step forward in our civil society engagement.
“It is such a delight to have like-minded friends coming from afar said Confucius…and the Chinese nation is a peace-loving, open and inclusive nation always expanding its circle of friends globally, and always strengthening cultural exchanges with other civilizations.”
He quoted the Chinese leadership as saying that friendship between people is the basic driving force for promoting world peace and development and a basic pre-condition for achieving win-win cooperation.
The Chinese diplomat said over the past 18 years “our bilateral relations have maintained rapid and steady development (and) a mutual political trust has reached a historic high and pragmatic cooperation has yielded fruitful results thereby fostering a brotherhood exemplary of mutual respect and win-win cooperation.
“China commends Dominica for its unwavering commitment to One China principle and unyielding support to China’s principal reunification efforts and time again Dominica has been outspoken in support of China’s legitimate interest and concerns for the sake of international justice.”
Beijing has been pushing for countries not to recognize Taiwan, which it deems to be a renegade province. Taipei has diplomatic relations with a handful of CARICOM countries.
CMC/
