Anthony L. Hall is a descendant of the Turks & Caicos Islands, international lawyer and political consultant - headquartered in Washington DC - who publishes his own Internet Weblog at www.theipinionsjournal.com offering commentaries on current events from a Caribbean perspective

According to a report by Caribbean Net News’ St Vincent correspondent, Kenton Chance, Eustace criticized the Prime Minister:

“...for visiting Asian ally Taiwan at a time when the opposition there is calling for the resignation of President Chen Shui-bain”.

And Kenton reported Eustace’s patently specious reasoning for his criticism as follows:

“I would have postponed if I were in his place,” said Arnhim Eustace, a former Prime Minister. And while he acknowledged that the visit was planned before the political crisis developed in Taiwan Eustace believed that President Chen would be preoccupied with domestic politics.”

Now, just imagine the state of world affairs if every leader decided to cancel state visits whenever he or she deemed the would-be host too “preoccupied with domestic politics.”  Clearly, based on this Eustace foreign-policy protocol, U.S. President George W. Bush would not have had any visits from foreign heads of state throughout his beleaguered presidency.

Perhaps Eustace is unaware that, compared to President Bush’s, President Chen’s domestic political situation seems positively copacetic.  After all, more than half of the American electorate consider Bush an illegitimate president because he “stole” the 2000 presidential election from Al Gore.  And, beyond this, his presidency has been beset by so many scandals and political crises (including fall-out from his ordering the NSA to spy on U.S. citizens, allegedly manufacturing military intelligence that now has American soldiers dying in an un-winnable war in Iraq, and the implication of senior members of his Party in the still-unfolding Abramoff political-bribery scheme) that a recent poll of 415 eminent historians -- conducted by the nonpartisan History New Network -- ranked him as the worst president in U.S. history.

Therefore, given Bush’s political situation, this begs the question: Does anyone believe that if he were prime minister that Eustace would decline an invitation from President Bush for a state visit to the United States?

Obviously, Prime Minister Gonsalves was right to honor President Chen’s reciprocal invitation for a state visit to Taiwan.  Moreover, in similar circumstances, his fellow Caribbean heads of state would do well to follow his protocol, which he explained as follows:

“...democratic governments would from time to time have their own domestic difficulties... That is for them to address within the context of their own internal mechanism... In any event, President Chen is my friend. Because my friend is in some difficulties, I must be a fair-weather friend and stay away? No.”

Spoken like a true leader and friend...indeed!

NOTE:   Some of us are acutely aware of fair-weather friends amongst Caribbean leaders who have not only stayed away but actually severed diplomatic ties with democratic Taiwan.  And they did so not out of some naïve concern about the political situation there; instead, they sold-out their friendship with Taiwan because communist China made them an offer they would not refuse.

But Eustace should be commended for joining the government in reaffirming St Vincent’s commitment to its 25-year friendship with Taiwan.  Alas, this fact alone only makes his criticism of PM Gonsalves all the more incomprehensible...