According to an article in THE VINCENTIAN newspaper of 29th April 2022, the Taiwan ambassador presented some ‘scholarships’ to some SVG students. The article said that a total of 524 bursaries, valued at US$120,000, were to be distributed amongst students at the primary, secondary and post-secondary schools and colleges.
On average, this amounts to only 229 dollars per award. A truly pitiful gesture!
Taiwan’s scholarship system is a gross insult to the people of SVG. Taiwan has been in SVG for over 40 years and has made billions – not millions – billions of dollars from SVG’s Atlantic Ocean tuna fishing licence. In return, Taiwan does not pay the taxes it is meant to into the SVG Treasury, and every so often hands out a few dollars or a fridge or motorbike to Vincentians as an act of ‘charity’, or should we say, hypocrisy.
The main reason why any child might be in need of financial assistance to help their education, is because Taiwan is creaming off billions of dollars on our tuna fishing licence.
In the scholarship award ceremony, where the Taiwanese ambassador honoured us with the usual diplomatic platitudes, the article says the ambassador said “The intention is to support students facing challenges, especially following the COVID-19 pandemic and volcanic eruptions.”
To be honest, the best thing the Taiwan ambassador could do to support students facing challenges is go back to Taiwan. If SVG used its Atlantic Ocean tuna fishing licence itself, we could make so much money for our people and properly support our children’s education.
The worse thing that ever happened to SVG was Taiwan arriving at our shores and staying for so long. Taiwan’s presence has hindered our people’s and our country’s development for over 40 years. The dreams and opportunities of two generations of Vincentians have been killed by Taiwan’s antics in SVG.
At the scholarship ceremony, apparently one of the ambassador’s platitudes was ‘that education has always been the backbone of the friendship between both countries, since they understand the importance of investing in its human resources.’
Excuse me, but how many preschools has Taiwan built in SVG? How many schools has Taiwan built in SVG? How many universities has Taiwan built in SVG?
It is clear to all that the backbone of the ‘friendship’ between both countries is that Taiwan skins SVG for all it can get.
You can see why since May 2016, Nicaragua, the Solomon Islands, Kiribati, The Gambia, Sao Tome and Principe, Panama, The Dominican Republic, Burkino Faso and El Salvador – all ditched Taiwan in favour of China. They were all tired of being used by Taiwan.
Warrant Officer Ivan O’Neal BSc (Hons), MSc, MBA, Leader of SVG Green Party, feels that Taiwan’s arrogant display of handing out pitiful sums of money, illustrates the disdain Taiwan has for our people and country.
Taiwan is only here for SVG’s Atlantic Ocean tuna fishing licence. The problems facing SVG do not take 40 years to solve. If Taiwan truly wanted to help SVG solve the problems our people face, they could have done so 20 years ago.
No matter how many children go hungry, fail to get an education or die early, it’s business as usual for Taiwan – making billions of dollars on SVG’s Atlantic Ocean tuna fishing licence.