You Can’t Have Your Cake and Eat It

Dean Barrow

In forming an alliance with Taiwan, Mainland China officially severed ties with Belize, and despite the notion of being diplomatically cordial with both nations, PM Barrow says you can’t have your cake and eat it.

Prime Minister Dean Barrow

“One of the points I want to make is that you can’t have it both ways you know.  You cannot be in alliance with Taiwan and think that you can have any kind of relations at the same time with Communist China.  There is no business of saying well we have diplomatic relations with one but we will have commercial relations with the other, no.  When we first established relations with Taiwan, I had said to the Right Honorable Member for Fort George, who thought that we could have two strings to a bow, it ain’t going to happen.  And the Chinese made it absolutely clear from then [on], we are breaking of relations with Belize because you have chosen Taiwan.  So I don’t know how it is that what, as I said, fertilized by both parties over these very many long years can all of a sudden be put in prejudice by members of the People’s United Party.  And I note that there has been no official statement from the party.”