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US State Dept. Official Visits to Encourage Belize Taiwan Links And Discourage China Switch
posted (October 28, 2019)
A senior US State Department official today concluded a quick visit to Belize. Julie Chung is the State Department's Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs - and her message was all about reinforcing good relations between Belize and Taiwan. Recently, China swiped two of Taiwan's central American allies: El Salvador and Panama. And in the Caribbean, the Dominican Republic has also switched its allegiance to China. The Americans aren't happy with that growing Chinese influence in the region, and Deputy Assistant Secretary Chung underscored how important the Belize - Taiwan relationship is for the United States:

Julie Chung, Prin. Dep. Asst. Sec., Bur. of West Hemisphere Affairs
"I came to reaffirm the strong relationship, the wide ranging levels of cooperation and partnership that we have. In addition I also wanted to come and congratulate the Taiwanese Ambassador here for the 30th anniversary of relationship between Taiwan and Belize and to reaffirm our support for that partnership and again as we've seen there are other characters and other nations that may not have the best interest of Belize at heart and it's great to see countries like Taiwan come here and be a partner to Belize."

"As partners and friends of Taiwan ourselves, there are many values that we share with Belize and Taiwan and that's democracy, open free markets, transparency, good governance and anti-corruption. These are basic pillars I think we share very closely and the values that we share. Now we look at countries like China and we've seen some of that predatory actions in the region and to be honest throughout the world and we see predatory lending, debt diplomacy where many countries are very eager to take some of the infrastructure funding that China's one belt, one road offers. My question is why is it one belt, one road that leads to China? It should be many belts, many roads that leads to many opportunities for all. This is not China's game, it should be all of us engage together and China is using facial recognition technology and IT technologies that are not in interest of the countries that they are doing business in. they are violating the sovereignty of these nations and this is a risk for national security of the countries that they are involved in. So we ask is that each country makes its own sovereign decision on what business deals they do with China, but make sure there is a due process, make sure you read the fine line, make sure there is a transparent process, make sure it's in the goodwill of your country."

Chung also briefly discussed the situation in Venezuela, where, desire its best efforts, the US has not been able to unseat President Nicholas Maduro:

Julie Chung
"And what's happening in Venezuela is something that Cuba is contributing to is really violates all the rights of human rights and international rule of law. We urge every country to do what they can to push back against the Maduro regime, this is one of our top priorities."

Reporter
"The US efforts of regime change in Venezuela has been unsuccessful. Will the US give up on Juan Guaido?"

Julie Chung
"I would not describe it in that term. I would say the constitution of the Venezuelan people and the will and right of the people recognize interim president Guaido as the legitimate president and that's what the United States and over 50 countries in the world recognize. We will continue calling for free, fair, early elections until democracy comes back to Venezuela."

We aslo asked Chung about migratory pressures brought on by the US crackdown on immigrants coming through its southern border. This has caused displacement throughout the region, and inevitably, some of these immigrants may end up in Belize. Deputy Assistant Secretary Chung said it's everyone's problem:

Julie Chung
"We really call upon all the countries of Central America and Mexico to do what they can to have the will to work with us in partnership to address this shared mutual concern. We have to have borders that are secured. We cannot have a rule-less, lawless movement of people and so we are working very closely. The diplomacy, the diplomatic work of the state department is to work with the governments of each of those countries, to work with NGOs and people on the ground and this is not a challenge that will go away immediately, but we certainly want to challenge and resolve this issue in the near term."

Reporter
"Will the US be approaching Belize to discuss safety third country agreement?"

Julie Chung
"That is not a subject that I had discuss on this trip."

The press conference was held at the airport and Chung left immediately after. In her time here she also met with the Leader of the Opposition and the Chamber of Commerce.

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