Articles - DOES CHOU HAVE LABOUR BY THE MELONS? Written By: Jason Sifflet

Anyone could have predicted that Taiwanese Ambassador Tom Chou would not let it slide. Last week’s allegation in the STAR newspaper that Taiwanese agricultural aid had redounded more to the aid of the government than of farmers themselves was part of an article about white elephants and the government’s failure to actually achieve anything.

By the next day, Chou was addressing these concerns, explaining that some crops like orchids were more complex but that others, like watermelons, were already putting cash in St Lucian pockets. For the Republic of China (Taiwan), these fruits and vegetables are not just food, they are political weapons.

This week, Chou painted an even more detailed picture of the Taiwanese impact on individual farmers.
He revealed the details of an internal embassy monthly report which showed the progress of 91 farmers who were receiving assistance to grow diverse crops like cantaloupe, watermelon, pineapple, cauliflower, broccholi, cabbage, tomato, eggplant, green beans—you get the picture.

“In the first year,” Chou said pointing to the stats, “the total value of the fruit sold by these farmers was $209,500. By the second year, 2009, it was up to $264,700. And now for the first six months of this year, the value is already up to $230,000. So you can see, they are on their way to exceeding the profits and the production of last year.”

But according to the internal reports, the fruit production boom that small farmers have harvested, with the help of the Taiwanese, is nothing compared to the vegetable production boom.
“For the vegetables, the total value in 2008 was $597,800,” Chou showed. “Last year, it was up to $719,000 and for the first half of this year, the total value was already up to $565,300.”
Chou also said that a technical team was constantly doing workshops and seminars with groups of 30-40 farmers also across St Lucia’s eight agricultural districts.
“So you see, it’s not just diplomacy,” he said, focusing on the allegation that Taiwanese agricultural assistance was another white elephant. “We believe that food security is a very important part of development and we want to help St Lucia to learn not just how to fish, but how to make the fish.”
This includes sharing Taiwanese knowledge of land utilization strategies that help farmers harvest crops like watermelon and tomato on the same land where they grow bananas.
“The effect is that many farmers harvest the other crops before the banana plants are matured, creating a better revenue stream for farmers,” Chou said. The next step, of course, is to steer farmers toward high value crops and make better connections to high value markets and reduce import costs by building the island’s capacity for producing is own seedlings.
The ambassador was at pains to prove that agricultural assistance was not political, much less partisan.
“We do these projects everywhere, even in Laborie,” he said. “We are very concerned to help the people of St Lucia not just the government.” Was it a timely hint to the St Lucia Labour Party, which has sustained a confrontational attitude toward the ambassador, in spite of widespread applause for the Taiwanese contribution to St Lucian agriculture in particular?
The Labour party went from railing against establishing diplomatic ties with Taiwan in 2007, to singling out Tom Chou as the main obstacle to their accepting Taiwanese aid for their constituencies in 2010. But while Labour’s line of Taiwan has been evolving at a snail’s pace, Taiwanese agricultural and poverty reduction projects have been winning over community after community. And all the while, Beijing has remained remarkably distant and not at all forthcoming with the kind of support one might expect, given their disappointment and anger when ties with Taiwan were reestablished in 2007.
Is Chou preparing for the Labour party to change its tune and accept that Beijing has abandoned them? The normally forthcoming and jovial ambassador was a little cagey about this line of questioning. Staying out of St Lucian partisan politics, Chou addressed instead the question of Taiwan-mainland relations.
“Over the last few years, ever since the change of government in Taiwan, have we seen any changes in the world in relation to Taiwan and China?” he asked rhetorically. The answer, of course, is no. “China and Taiwan have been putting aside ideological differences and focusing on economic issues. A big part of investment in China comes from Taiwanese business.”

And a big part of the labour on products that profit Taiwan comes from China.
What does this mean for St Lucian politics?
Well for one thing, it means that Taiwan is worth more to China than St Lucia and that the more the two focus on economic progress rather than ideological differences, the less little islands like St Lucia matter to Beijing. Most of the world already has signed up on Beijing’s side of the Taiwan-China debate. Keeping St Lucia on the friends list matters a whole lot more to Taiwan than it does to mainland China. The Labour party could well find that if and when it does win another election, Beijing might be satisfied to leave St Lucia with Taiwan, just so they don’t upset the delicate balance.

Does it mean that Chou has the Labour party by the melons?

Will Kenny get to suck up the Taiwanese ambassador that he has vilified and demonized?
Unlikely. Diplomatic assignments like Chou’s usually last three to four years. Chou has already done more than his time in St Lucia and could be recalled at any moment.
If Labour can manage to win a forthcoming election, chances are they will get some new Taiwanese diplomat to rub shoulders with and won’t have to look Tom Chou in the eye when they ask for Taiwanese assistance.