China’s formal notice of sanctions against Foreign Minister Francis Fonseca arrived today, and it points directly to the Taiwanese foreign minister’s recent visit to Belize.
In an interview today, Fonseca told News 5 that the official note came from China’s embassy in Jamaica to Belize’s protocol office. He said it referenced Belize’s decision to receive Taiwan’s Foreign Minister, Lin Chia-lung, last month.
Fonseca said he learned of the sanctions through a message around 5:30 in the morning.
“My initial reaction was shock, really. Where did this come from? So I was surprised,” Fonseca said.
Reuters reported that China’s foreign ministry announced measures against Fonseca and Paraguay’s communications minister over their countries’ ties with Taiwan. They include denying entry visas for Hong Kong and Macau and banning Chinese organisations and individuals from doing business with the two officials. A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson described them as “pawns” for Taiwan.
Fonseca said he holds no significant assets in China and has never visited the mainland.
“It doesn’t affect me personally, and obviously, I do not have any assets in China,” he said. “But it is a very serious matter.”
He called the sanctions an attack on Belize’s right to choose its own allies, stating, “This is an act really of interference with our right, our sovereign right as a nation to chart our own course when it comes to foreign policy,” Fonseca said.
He added, “If we allow those fundamental principles to be undermined, especially as small states, then we are all less secure; all small states are less secure.”
Fonseca rejected suggestions that the sanctions could hit trade between the two countries. China is a major source of goods imported into Belize.
“There is no evidence at all that there will be any impact on any of those issues, trade issues, economic issues,” he said. “It has no impact on the country; it has no impact on Belizeans.”
Belize condemns the measures, but according to Fonseca, Belize will not retaliate. “In Belize, we respond to these measures with calm and with principle,” he said.
Fonseca also welcomed a statement from the US State Department condemning the sanctions. He said Belize is briefing CARICOM, SICA and the OAS.
Belize and Paraguay are the only two of Taiwan’s 12 remaining diplomatic allies whose officials were targeted. Fonseca said Belize is concerned but declined to speculate on Beijing’s reasons.
Fonseca insisted the 37-year relationship with Taiwan remains firm and cited the new agreements both countries signed during the Taiwanese foreign minister’s visit across sectors, including development in education, health, agriculture, climate change and housing.
“Our relationship with Taiwan continues to be very, very strong,” Fonseca said. “It’s a relationship that the Belizean people support.”
