Taiwan and St. Lucia: Best buddies again, but at what price?

Some interesting news tidbits have popped up recently concerning China’s relations with two Western Hemisphere countries.

First was the decision this week by St. Lucia, a tiny Caribbean island, to switch diplomatic allegiance from China to Taiwan, a move motivated by money that left Beijing quivering with anger.

St. Lucia has a record of going with the highest bidder in the “dollar diplomacy” that China and Taiwan practice in their constant tussles to win allies. St. Lucia first recognized Taiwan, then switched to China a decade ago, then this week back again to Taiwan.

St. Lucia only has 168,000 residents and rarely makes global newspaper headlines. So its citizens were a little astonished that China, the world’s most populous nation with 1.3 billion citizens, reacted with indignation and outrage at the latest diplomatic switcheroo.
 
“We have been looking for a way to get St Lucia on the world map for some time,” The Star Online website noted. “Pissing off one of the most powerful nations in world is surely getting us the most publicity we have had in eons.”

China had built a stadium and was finishing a hospital for the island but worked stopped when St. Lucia suddenly avowed that it was better friends with Taiwan. How widely Taiwan opened its wallet is not clear.

The other story of interest (at least, to me) is what happened when Colombia tried an unusual diplomatic initiative with China that utterly backfired.

Last fall, Colombian Vice President Francisco Santos arrived in Beijing and announced that his nation would no longer require Chinese to obtain visas to visit Colombia. The move went into effect Jan. 1. Colombia apparently hoped Chinese businessmen would bring investment. And since there are no direct flights between China and Colombia, the foreign ministry in Bogota figured that any Chinese would have to at least get a transit visa through the United States or France to make the journey.

Of course, it was predictable that cunning Chinese alien smugglers, or “snakeheads,” would try to use Colombia as a trampoline to move migrants toward the United States.

That’s exactly what happened. On April 16, Colombia police arrested 101 Chinese in a town north of Bogota. The Chinese had no idea what country they were in. Some had never heard of Colombia. They were crammed in two locked houses unable to leave, awaiting onward smuggling to the United States.

Colombia is reversing course on the visas. As of May, Colombia will require visas again of all Chinese entering the country.