TAIPEI (Reuters) -Taiwan’s ambassador to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines has congratulated the opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) for winning the election in the Caribbean country, one of Taipei’s last remaining formal diplomatic allies.
The NDP has previously proposed severing relations with Taiwan, which Saint Vincent has held since 1981, in favour of greater proximity with China. Their election manifesto, however, made no mention of ending ties with Taipei.
Only 12 countries now maintain official diplomatic relations with Chinese-claimed Taiwan, four of which are in the Caribbean.
Outgoing Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves and his Unity Labour Party have long opposed ending relations with Taiwan.
On Friday, Taiwan’s foreign ministry said its ambassador to Saint Vincent, Fiona Fan, had “at the first moment” expressed Taiwan’s congratulations to Godwin Friday, who will become the prime minister, and his party.
“Taiwan and Saint Vincent share universal values such as democracy, freedom and human rights,” the ministry said.
Over the past 44 years of diplomatic relations, cooperation has yielded “remarkable” results across agriculture, food security, infrastructure, healthcare and other areas, earning widespread recognition from all sectors in Saint Vincent, it said.
Elections in diplomatic allies are often nervous moments for Taiwan given the chance a new government could come in and switch allegiances to China.
In 2023, a year after taking office, Honduras President Xiomara Castro severed relations with Taiwan in favour of China.
The most recent country to shift from Taiwan to China was the Pacific islands nation of Nauru last year, shortly after Taiwan President Lai Ching-te won election.
China says Taiwan is one of its provinces with no right to state-to-state relations, a view Taipei’s government strongly rejects.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Kevin Buckland)
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