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Tuesday February 27, 5:47 PMChina, Taiwan spend millions of dollars on cricket tournament(Kyodo) _ China and Taiwan have spent tens of millions of dollars funding an international sports tournament in the Caribbean in what appears to be a diplomatic battle to gain political influence.Through a series of grants and preferential loans, they have paid for brand-new state-of-the-art stadiums in a number of the nine countries that will host the two-month Cricket World Cup, which begins on March 11. This funding comes despite the fact neither side will take part in the event -- involving a sport they hardly ever play -- and is taking place in a region of small island states that appear strategically unimportant. Perhaps the reason behind the funding lies in the fact that over recent years both China and Taiwan have vied for political influence in the Caribbean, which is home to some of the dwindling number of countries that maintain official diplomatic ties with Taipei. China refuses to establish diplomatic relations with any country that has official ties with Taiwan, which it believes is a renegade province that must be reunited with the mainland -- by force if necessary. Countries that have benefited from Chinese help in building stadiums for the tournament, held every four years, include Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada and Jamaica. China gave Antigua and Barbuda a $55-million grant to build the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Stadium, which was opened earlier this month by the country's grateful prime minister, Baldwin Spencer. In an indication of just how much politics played a part in the deal, at the opening ceremony Spencer declared his support for the "one-China policy" that reaffirms Beijing's territorial claims over Taiwan. Grenada also received a grant from China, getting $14 million to build a new national stadium on the ruins of a previous facility that was blown down in 2004 when Hurricane Ivan devastated the region. "China has not just provided the funding, most of the labor also comes from China," Troy Garvey, spokesman for tournament's organizing committee in Grenada, told Kyodo News. "There have been close to 560 Chinese working around the clock to deliver the facility on time." "Even now there are Chinese laborers here working on the stadium's external areas, such as the pavements. We must say a very big thank you to the government and people of China," he added. Up until 2004, Grenada had official diplomatic ties with Taipei and the original national stadium that blew down was built with money provided by Taiwan's Export-Import Bank through a series of preferential loans. Grenada stopped paying back the loans -- both the principal and the interest -- when it switched diplomatic recognition to Beijing, according to Taiwanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Chien-yeh. He added that the bank is currently suing Grenada for the return of the money through a New York court. Grenada's diplomatic switch led to an embarrassing incident when the new stadium was officially handed over earlier this month: Grenada played Taiwan's national anthem at the ceremony instead of China's. China also provided a preferential loan to Jamaica so it could build a new 25,000-seat all-purpose stadium that will host the Cricket World Cup's opening ceremony. The Caribbean is also diplomatically important to Taiwan. The region has four of the 25 countries that have official ties with Taipei. Taiwan's close cooperation with the region includes a "multimillion dollar" grant -- reported to be more than $21 million -- to diplomatic ally St. Kitts and Nevis for a completely new stadium. "Although we are not directly involved in the cricket tournament -- there is no Taiwanese team in the event -- the stadium itself is part of a cooperation project," said Taiwanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang. Both sides acknowledge they have helped build the stadiums, but neither China nor Taiwan will openly admit that money for sports facilities is primarily aimed at maintaining their influence in the region. But that is an important goal, according to David Jessop, executive director of London-based consultancy firm the Caribbean Council. "Beijing's ties reflect a desire to support economic integration and regional stability while ensuring support in the United Nations and elsewhere on matters of principle, including China's continuing desire to neutralize the influence of Taiwan," he wrote in an analysis piece. |
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