The leader of the main opposition United Workers Party (UWP), Lennox Linton, has denied holding talks in China on alleged corrupt activities in Dominica.
“We did not focus at all on the Dominica situation . . . Regarding China on this trip, we had absolutely no discussions, no dialogue at all with any official in China about corruption in Dominica,” said Linton, who led a seven-member UWP delegation to Beijing earlier this month.
“That is not what we went there for but there will be a time and place in the future for those kinds of engagements if the government does not desist from the practices that it is now engaged in.”
Speaking at a news conference, Linton called on the ruling Dominica Labour Party (DLP) to issue a statement on China’s anti-corruption campaign.
“We also call on the ruling Dominica Labour Party to issue an unequivocal statement in the support of China’s comprehensive anti-corruption campaign as an example of the seriousness with which governments around the world must act to prevent state resources from being plundered for private gain.”
He said during the visit, the opposition delegation met with members of the ruling Communist Party as well as government officials insisting this was not an initiative to “involve the parliamentary opposition in state to state matters normally handled by a sitting government.
“The objective was to explore opportunities for strengthening party capability for, one better oversight of government and better representation of people while in opposition and two, visionary, caring, competent, corruption free leadership when the United Workers Party becomes government.
“The United Workers’ Party accepted the invitation to go to Beijing at the invitation of the Communist Party of China. I would not be presumptuous enough to suggest that this was about sending any signal to anybody,” he said.
Linton told reporters that his party also embraces the One China Policy that Beijing insists is a hallmark of its foreign policy with other countries as it regards Taiwan, which has diplomatic relations with some Caribbean countries, as a renegade province.
“Our position on China was not negotiated. We did not sit down in a room and with the promise of X amount of millions of dollars for this or for that. We believe in One China Policy. We took a decision years ago having regard to the fact that the Labour Party government entered into diplomatic relations with China in 2004.
“Our decision subsequent to that was should we come into office we would not switch diplomatic relations,” said Linton, who has on his return here called on the Roosevelt Skerrit government to appoint a resident ambassador to China.
