As preparations for general elections are stepped up in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, an interesting situation is playing itself out in the political theater. Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves accuses China and other players of financing the main opposition party in a bid to replace his 24-year-old administration.
In a plethora of recent remarks, Gonsalves, 79, has laid bare intelligence, which he says shows that the opposition New Democratic Party’s campaign (NDP) is being financed by Chinese and actors in part because the NDP has vowed to restore the golden passport system, allowing foreigners to pay a fixed amount of cash to obtain a local passport and citizenship.
The scheme, which Gonsalves’ Unity Labor Party (ULP) banished after taking office in 2001, is known as the citizenship by investment program (CIP). St. Kitts, Antigua, Dominica, St. Lucia, and Grenada have programs that bring in millions in state revenues.
Gonsalves has said the CIP would be allowed in St. Vincent only over his dead body. Unlike most of its CARICOM neighbors, St. Vincent has strong diplomatic relations with Taiwan rather than China, so he argues that a change of government would not only result in the return of the CIP but also a switch of relations with mainland China. Previous Grenadian and St. Lucian governments have abandoned Taiwan in recent decades.
General elections are constitutionally due by next February, but are widely expected later this year with both major parties stepping up preparations in earnest. PM Gonsalves says Chinese and other vested interests desperately want regime change in the federation.
“Right now, they’re operating in the embassy of a country not too far from us, in this Caribbean. It is from there that the center of the NDP election campaign is being financed and run. It is organizing the printing of t-shirts in various constituencies. They’re paying people who are commenting on the radio. They paying the radio station them, too. In one case, an entity out of India is connected with some cricket thing. They’re all now putting money into the NDP coffers,” the PM said recently.
Rejecting such claims, Chinese Ambassador to Grenada Wei Hongtian says Beijing has no such plans.
“It is not our policy to interfere in the internal affairs of any country – it is not our policy to involve ourselves in local politics, “Wei told the New Today Grenada newspaper, denying Chinese merchants are investing in the opposition. “It is not our policy. China encourages its companies to have cooperation with their local partners in other countries, but asks them to always respect and follow the local law and to do this in keeping with international laws.”
Apart from switching diplomatic relations to China from Taiwan, Gonsalves says he is convinced that Western nations will eventually close down the CIP because of due diligence and other concerns, despite it being a revenue lifeline for the subregion. The golden passports allow holders to travel as locals visa-free to more than 100 nations. Critics say their own native travel documents do not allow for such privileges, hence the rush to buy them.
“You cannot build a sustainable and dignified society by auctioning off your sovereignty. It is reckless and shortsighted.” And in an apparent reference to St. Kitts, Gonsalves stated, “You have a population of 50,000 and you have 12,000 economic citizens. The five other independent countries of the OECS have gone that way. I wish them well. We just simply have a different perspective on it, because, in one jurisdiction, which has been in the forefront, a lot of problems are occurring,” he said.
