• Military

• WMD Menu                           

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

St. Kitts and Nevis deputy leader says country will support Taiwan

ROC Central News Agency

05/09/2023 09:47 PM

Taipei, May 9 (CNA) Saint Christopher and Nevis will continue to support Taiwan and its participation in international organizations, the Caribbean nation's Deputy Prime Minister Geoffrey Hanley said in Taipei Tuesday.

Asked by reporters whether his country had been pressured by Beijing to break off diplomatic relations with Taipei, Hanley said that Saint Christopher and Nevis "will continue to support Taiwan."

Hanley noted that his country's parliament had passed a resolution last month pledging continued support for Taiwan and its participation in international organizations.

The deputy prime minister said that the short interval between Prime Minster Terence Drew's visit in November 2022 and his own trip to Taiwan gave Saint Christopher and Nevis' recently elected Labour government a chance to identify ways to best continue collaborating with Taiwan.

Hanley added that he wanted to thank the people of Taiwan for 40 years of diplomatic relations and encouraged them to visit his country to learn English and experience the culture.

Hanley, who doubles as education minister, said his country would "definitely be able to capitalize on" sending teachers from Saint Christopher and Nevis to take part in short-term exchanges to help shore up a shortage of English-language teachers in Taiwan's public schools.

In the meantime, Hanley said, some St. Christopher and Nevis students who study in Taiwan have been teaching English to Taiwanese and continue to do so before they return to their home country.

"My son who studied in Taiwan, he taught [English] for about two or three years before he returned to St. Kitts," Hanley said.

Another area in which Saint Christopher and Nevis hopes to continue to collaborate with Taiwan is renewable energy, said Energy Minister Konris Maynard, who was also interviewed.

Saint Christopher and Nevis' government has put forward a plan to raise the percentage of renewable energy to 100 percent of the country's energy mix by 2030, Maynard said.

His country hopes to lean on Taiwan's expertise in developing renewable energy sources, not just in terms of solar power, but wind energy as well, Maynard said.

Taiwan has helped his country develop solar farms and will be an "integral partner" to help Saint Christopher and Nevis achieve that goal, Maynard said.

(By Sean Lin)

Enditem/ASG