On 2 August, in disregard of China’s strong opposition and serious representations, Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi visited China’s Taiwan region, which attracting great attention of the international community, including the people of Dutch Caribbean.
1. There is but one China in the world, Taiwan is an inalienable part of China’s territory, and the Government of the People’s Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China. This has been clearly recognized by United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758 of 1971. Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, 181 countries have established diplomatic relations with China on the basis of the one-China principle. The one-China principle is a universal consensus of the international community and a basic norm in international relations.
2. In 1979, the United States made a clear commitment in the China-US Joint Communiqué on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations – “The United States of America recognizes the Government of the People’s Republic of China as the sole legal Government of China. Within this context, the people of the United States will maintain cultural, commercial, and other unofficial relations with the people of Taiwan.” Congress, as a part of the US Government, is inherently obliged to strictly observe the one-China policy of the US Government and refrain from having any official exchanges with China’s Taiwan region.
China is all along opposed to the visit to Taiwan by US congressional members, and the US executive branch has the responsibility to stop such visit. Since Speaker Pelosi is the incumbent leader of the US Congress, her visit to and activities in Taiwan, in whatever form and for whatever reason, is a major political provocation to upgrade US official exchanges with Taiwan. This is a serious violation of the one-China principle and the provisions of the three China-US joint communiqués. It has a severe impact on the political foundation of China-US relations, and seriously infringes upon China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. It gravely undermines peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits, and sends a seriously wrong signal to the separatist forces for “Taiwan independence”.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Ministry of National Defense, The National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee, The Taiwan work Office of the CPC Central Committee have all firmly opposes and sternly condemns this through statements and remarks, and has made serious démarche and strong protest to the United States.
3. The position of the Chinese Government and people on the Taiwan question has been consistent. It is the firm commitment of the more than 1.4 billion Chinese people to resolutely safeguard state sovereignty and territorial integrity. It is the common aspiration and sacred responsibility of all Chinese sons and daughters to realize the complete reunification of the motherland. The trend of the times cannot be reversed, and the will of the people is not to be defied. China must and will be reunified, this is an unstoppable trend of history. No country, no forces and no individual should ever misestimate the firm resolve, strong will and great capability of the Chinese Government and people to defend state sovereignty and territorial integrity and to achieve national reunification and rejuvenation.
4. Following the visit by Speaker Pelosi to the Taiwan region, within less than a day, people of different ranks and backgrounds from more than 100 countries and international organizations, including the United Nations, have spoken up in various ways to condemn her wrong, foolish and insane decision and express their support for the one-China principle and for China’s legitimate efforts to uphold its sovereignty and territorial integrity. The fact that so many have spoken up for justice is a clear indication that people in the international community are clear-eyed about the nature and intention of the visit. The visit is an ugly political stunt. It will not change the historical and legal reality that Taiwan belongs to China. It will not stop the reunification course of China and will not change the fact that 181 countries in the world recognize and support the one-China principle.
5. China and the United States are two major countries. The right way for them to deal with each other lies only in mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, no-confrontation and win-win cooperation. The Taiwan question is purely an internal affair of China, and no other country is entitled to act as a judge on the Taiwan question. We urge the U.S. side to honor its words, cease any kind of official exchanges with China’s Taiwan region, stop interfering in China’s internal affairs, stop sending any wrong signal to “Taiwan independence” separatist forces, and not to go further down the dangerous path. Any erroneous act that goes against the historical trend, aims to make an issue out of the Taiwan question and undermines China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity is doomed to fail, and will boomerang in the end.
Li Yigang
Consul General of the People’s Republic of China in Willemstad
Dear Editor,
The Caribbean Region has been described as the most reliant on tourism and travel when compared to other global regions. The Caribbean relies on international visitors more than any other region in the world.
According to the latest UNWTO World Tourism Barometer, international tourism saw a strong rebound in the first five months of 2022, with almost 250 million international arrivals recorded. This compares to 77 million arrivals from January to May 2021 and means that the sector has recovered almost half (46%) of pre-pandemic 2019 levels.
The UNWTO says in the Americas, arrivals more than doubled (+112%). However, the strong rebound is measured against weak results in 2021 and arrivals remain overall 36% and 40% below 2019 levels in both regions (Americas and Europe), respectively.
“Looking at subregions, several have recovered between 70% and 80% of their pre-pandemic levels, led by the Caribbean and Central America, followed by Southern Mediterranean, Western and Northern Europe. It is noteworthy that some destinations surpassed 2019 levels, including US Virgin Islands, St. Maarten, the Republic of Moldova, Albania, Honduras, and Puerto Rico,” the UNWTO reports.
Rising tourism spending out of the major source markets is consistent with the observed recovery.
According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the overall reduction in international air capacity in 2022 will be limited to 20% to 25% of seats offered by airlines as compared to 2019. Such resilience is also reflected in hotel occupancy rates. Based on data from the industry benchmarking firm STR, global occupancy rates climbed to 66% in June 2022, from 43% in January.
The following global challenges are impacting and/or pose a risk to tourism recovery: stronger than expected demand has created significant operational and workforce challenges, while the war in Ukraine, rising inflation, and interest rates, as well as fears of an economic slowdown; developments related to the pandemic and emerging public health emergencies.
UNWTO’s forward-looking scenarios published in May 2022 point to international arrivals reaching 55% to 70% of pre-pandemic levels in 2022.
The UNWTO adds that scenarios by region show Europe and Americas recording the best tourism results in 2022, while Asia and the Pacific is expected to lag behind due to more restrictive travel policies. International tourist arrivals in Europe could climb to 65% or 80% of 2019 levels in 2022, depending on various conditions, while in the Americas they could reach 63% to 76% of those levels.
Tourism recovery in many regions of the world is on the up, but it will take time while economies and nations manage the challenges that they are currently facing.
Roddy Heyliger
Dear Editor,
If the interview with Lady Grace and the article in The Daily Herald about the Minister of VROMI threatening PFP MP Peterson two years ago and following up on his threat two years later, does not open the eyes of our people, then the only thing that can be concluded is that we deserve the government we elect.
It was to be expected that our Prime Minister would condone the actions of Minister Doran, because that has been her attitude towards the behaviour of the "young boys" consistently. Defending them at all costs no matter what they do wrong because that is the example that according to our government the people of St. Maarten should follow. She stated that she listened to the interview, but not even Doran's obvious lying about receiving the documents just a couple of days before the interview, or Doran's accusations without any proof, that a big investor, in this case Alegria, had bribed an MP could not convince her that what this minister did was totally wrong. Her conclusion: I am not condemning Doran but PFP has set a "dangerous precedent".
The only precedent that PFP has set in my opinion is that when dealing with unscrupulous politicians, you'd better protect yourself. But now we have another minister of her cabinet, Minister Irion, accusing another MP, MP Emmanuel, only and just because this MP correctly pointed out the wrongdoings of the Minister of VROMI. Minister Irion, stop the deflection, everybody knows what you are trying to do. On top of all of this, MP Marlin who has been absent for a long time, not doing his job in Parliament and thus wasting our taxpayers’ money, has the audacity to ask for the Integrity Chamber to investigate the PFP? The same Integrity Chamber that he has been opposing fervently and even voted pro, to decrease their budget. Like many others are saying, you should resign and give the next person on your party list your seat in Parliament.
Evidently our current government and its members – ministers and MPs – do not want to be held accountable. The question remains: How long more will we have to deal with political intimidation and threats in this country? What threats will our ministers come up with next to attack MP Peterson, MP Emmanuel or whomever MP that according to our Constitution is doing exactly what they were elected for: represent the people of St. Maarten. Next election we will see if our people have learned a lesson. In the end: Insanity is when we keep voting for the same politicians over and over again and expecting a different outcome.
To the other MPs who are actually doing their job, you have come to change the political culture on this island. It is going to be a difficult journey and they will keep coming after you. Please do not give up. Hopefully in the future we will have a strong coalition that will really fight for our people and put the general interest of St. Maarten first.
R. Mercelina
By Alex Rosaria
As a member of the US-based think tank Global Americans’ Working Group on Climate Change in the Caribbean, I am glad to share that we have published our third paper* in our series on Climate Change in the Caribbean. This paper focuses on illicit economic activities in our region.
The Caribbean remains a unique and diverse environmental biome replete with valuable living and non-living resources in its waters, reefs, and forests. It is also an ideal location for illicit activities. The geographic characteristics of our region have contributed to the Caribbean’s role as a staging point for South American narcotics headed for North American and European markets. Other illicit activities conducted around the Caribbean’s location include human trafficking, gun smuggling, and money laundering.
The focus of this paper, however, will be on illicit activities that are closely linked to climate change and include illicit gold mining, illegal logging, poaching, and IUU (illegal, unreported, and unregulated) fishing.
The global retail value of transnational crime:
Counterfeiting $923 billion to $1.13 trillion
Drug trafficking $426 billion to $652 billion
Human trafficking $150.2 billion
Illegal logging $52 billion to $157 billion
Illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing $15.5 billion to $36.4 billion
Illegal mining $12 billion to $48 billion
Crude oil theft $5.2 billion to $11.9 billion
Illegal wildlife trade $5 billion to $23 billion
Small arms and light weapons trafficking $1.7 billion to $3.5 billion
Trafficking in cultural property $1.2 billion to $1.6 billion
Organ trafficking $840 million to $1.7 billion
Source: Channing May, Transnational Crime and the Developing World, Global Financial Integrity, March 2017.
Who commits these crimes? The actors may surprise you. They consist of legal professionals, company formation, agents, notaries, bankers, and accountants who help launder illicit funds through licit institutions.
*This report is intended to inform policymakers, non-governmental actors, and the public of abroad scope of environmental crimes in the region and suggest substantive actions to curb these activities. Please see
https://theglobalamericans.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Climate-Change-and-Illicit-Economic-Activities-2.pdf
~ Alex David Rosaria (53) is a freelance consultant active in Asia and the Pacific. He is a former Member of Parliament, Minister of Economic Affairs, State Secretary of Finance and UN Implementation Officer in Africa and Central America. He is from Curaçao and has an MBA from University of Iowa (USA). ~
Dear editor,
With self-control and discipline we can change our responses to stimuli from our environment that are often harmful to our thoughts and emotions. By resolving to almost always make a conscious effort to choose healthy perspectives in relation to the circumstances and situations that life throws at us, we can then begin to exercise greater control over our lives.
Being attuned to the thoughts and feelings we are having can make us become aware of the manner in which we are perceiving and responding to our external realities. But this can be easier said than done since the conditioning and socialisation we have undergone has helped to shape and ferment the repeated structured thoughts and feelings we have deposited internally. And so quite a number of us live lives that mirror a sort of automated mechanical kind of existence. We automatically, unawares, continue to repeatedly respond to our external experiences with highly structured and pre- programmed minds.
We live our lives in a matrix, an intellectual and emotional safe space that perpetually regurgitates the same thoughts and feelings even when faced with novel experiences. This monotonous recurring way of existence can nevertheless prove blissful for those who hitherto have been unable to discover and articulate new ways of thinking. Conversely, though, for those that have run the gamut of their senses and sensibilities, aware of the repertoire of thoughts and feelings, but are struggling to re-programme their hardwares, this can prove to be miserably frustrating.
Having the knowledge and the will, knowing the changes in thinking that are essential in order for us to bring about the mental alterations we need is one thing. But lacking the discipline, self- control and power to execute these changes can create internal conflicts and tensions that can be difficult to manage. Changing the way we have been conditioned to think, feel and see the things we are accustomed to experiencing requires focus and awareness. An awareness that ought to motivate us to persevere, knowing our lives can be transformed in blissful, tranquil and peaceful ways.
To this end neuro linguistic programming (NLP) and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) are two helpful concepts/therapy that regrettably have not been embraced by the scientific community. Nevertheless, even with their categorisation as pseudo-sciences, millions have still benefited both from professionally supervised and unsupervised coaching. Many have been able to change the lenses through which they were perceiving and responding to external stimuli with the help of NLP and CBT. As empowering and transformational tools NLP and CBT can reverse our limited perspectival and restraining lives by helping us to change the way we look and respond to things rather than wanting to change the things we look at.
And as the 13th century Persian poet Rumi said, yesterday I was clever because I wanted to change the world but today I am wise because I have changed myself.
Orlando Patterson.
