Corbin/Chinese errors of judgement
Politics of a Taiwan visit and memo with Suriname
By Rickey Singh
Guyana Chronicle
August 8, 2004
WHEN the dust finally settles on the political brouhaha sparked by Robert Corbin's claimed "private-citizen visit" to Taiwan -- a renegade province of the People's Republic of China --perhaps both he and the Chinese embassy in Georgetown may wish to reflect on their respective errors of judgement and seek to correct them.
The Taiwan-visit dispute should never have happened. But it may have occurred as a result of political opportunism and/or deformities in approaches to significant foreign policy issues by the opposition People's National Congress Reform and for which its current leader, Corbin, may yet suffer the consequences in time to come.
After all, the gaffe over the so-called 'private' visit to Taiwan by Corbin, that was not even discussed with his party's executive committee -- as reported in the `Stabroek News’ last Wednesday -- has come in the wake of his signing of a highly controversial `Memorandum of Understanding’ with the former military coup leader, Desi Bouterse, on behalf of the opposition National Democratic Party of Surinamese.
The PNCR is understandably uneasy, to put it mildly, over Corbin's visit to Taiwan, for which he was accompanied by colleague Stanley Ming -- but, strangely, never discussed with the party's executive.
Publicly, the party is desperately seeking to downplay the significance of what must be an embarrassing development within weeks of its Biennial Congress. It is not an issue that could reasonably be ignored.
If it should turn out that the recent Memorandum of Understanding signed between Corbin and Bouterse -- the latter wanted by The Netherlands for serious drug trafficking offences -- was done with prior consent of the PNCR, then the problem becomes even more complicated for a party that once ran successive governments for 28 years.
While Corbin and the PNCR remain defensive, the governing People's Progressive Party (PPP) and its lawmakers have gone on the offensive.
The latest development in their political armoury was the circulation of two motions last Thursday for debate when the National Assembly reconvenes after its August recess.
Both motions have been submitted in the name of Foreign Affairs Minister Rudy Insanally -- once a long serving diplomat of the PNC era in government.
CENSURE MOTIONS
The one on the Corbin/Bouterse Memorandum of Understanding accuses the PNCR as acting contrary to Guyana's national interest with specific reference to this country's recourse to international arbitration to resolve the age-old maritime boundary dispute with Suriname.
The motion reaffirms an internationally recognised position that the conduct of a nation's foreign policy is the "preserve" of its government of the day.
Further, it is the government's contention, as articulated in the Foreign Minister's motion, that the Corbin/Bouterse agreement undermines Guyana's effort to "legally and peacefully arrive at a definitive and binding resolution of the maritime dispute.”
The PNCR leader was officially briefed by President Bharrat Jagdeo and a team of international officials over a year ago -- July 11, 2003 -- on the options available to Guyana, including resort to procedure under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
In contrast, the Memorandum of Understanding with Bouterse that followed the Jagdeo briefing, was to be a surprise for the government and people of Guyana.
The motion dealing with Corbin's "private" visit to Taiwan, urges the Guyana Parliament to disassociate itself from this development that undermines historically principled relations between Guyana and the People's Republic of China (PRC). It also calls on the PNCR to "reaffirm" its own commitment to "good relations" with China and to pledge "continued support" for a "one China" policy.
It is ironic, indeed, that the supporters of the PNC, whose founder-leader, Forbes Burnham, had established diplomatic relations between Guyana and the PRC back in 1972, in accordance with an enlightened foreign policy, should now be embarrassed in 2004 with a "private citizen" trip to Taiwan by its current leader, Corbin, that raises many questions about its necessity and real objective.
FINANCIAL HELP?
If financial assistance, for whatever purpose, was NOT in fact a consideration, then why the sudden journey to Taiwan?
How and when it was organised and financed and why it was not discussed with the PNCR executive committee are some of the questions now in the public domain.
The authorities in Taiwan have a long history of using money as the primary weapon to win and keep a comparatively few states and political parties of the international community as allies with which it maintains relations.
Such countries number approximately 27 of the 191 members of the United Nations, among them being Grenada, Belize, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and St. Kitts and Nevis.
Taiwanese money has variously flowed to governing and opposition parties in those countries, for elections campaigning.
It is Mr Corbin's constitutional right as a citizen of Guyana to travel to any country of his choice. But can he honestly, logically delink "private citizen" Corbin from his elected position as leader of the PNCR and parliamentary Opposition Leader?
Further, is it reasonable to accept, as Mr Corbin wants Guyanese to do, that he and 'comrade' Ming travelled to that breakaway province of mainland China to better understand its social and economic progress, its rapid achievements in industrialisation? The doubts persist.
China, of course, is not amused by such an argument, and its outgoing ambassador to Guyana, Song Tao, felt strongly enough about the issue by failing to show up last Wednesday for a scheduled courtesy call on Corbin in what was interpreted as a diplomatic snub.
While I can understand the anger of the Chinese embassy in Guyana -- as an extension of instructions from Beijing -- I think that two wrongs do no make a right and amends would have to be made on both sides in the days ahead.
CORRECTING PROBLEM
The Chinese correctly argued that someone in Corbin's political position cannot be objectively seen as having made a "private citizen" trip to Taiwan.
Then, surprisingly, its outgoing ambassador fails to meet Corbin, as was scheduled, in his capacity as Leader of the Opposition.
He could have made clear, publicly if necessary, that such a meeting would have been in Corbin's official capacity and not as the dubious "private citizen" role expediently advanced for the PNCR leader's trip to Taiwan.
When tempers cool and pressures subside, perhaps the new Chinese ambassador to Guyana, Shen Quing, should consider the usefulness of also including Opposition Leader Corbin in his coming rounds of "courtesy calls" -- all in the interest of continuing "good relations" between Guyana and China.
A rebuffed Taiwan will be left to recall the humiliation suffered within recent times in Caribbean states like St. Lucia, The Bahamas and more lately in Dominica.
Perhaps when the Guyana parliament is ready to debate the two censure motions circulated by Foreign Minister Insanally, the PNCR would also see the necessity to end its ongoing boycott of the National Assembly and ensure that its representatives are in attendance to work for the money they receive every month from the national treasury.
Is this yet another problem of leadership?
Having astonishingly failed to be in that highest forum in the land for the 2004 Budget debate --during which so many important issues could have been properly raised -- the PNCR parliamentarians owe it to even their own supporters to be back in the National Assembly after the recess to respond to the coming censure motions on Corbin's trip to Taiwan and his earlier signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with Suriname's Bouterse.