Above: Taiwan

By the Caribbean Journal staff

St Lucia is opening its first-ever Embassy in Taiwan this week.

The new embassy, which is slated to open Thursday, will be located in the capital, Taipei.

A delegation from St Lucia led by St Lucia Prime Minister Dr Kenny Anthony departed the island this weekend for Taiwan to be on hand for the opening.

Expenditure for the visit is being met by the Taiwanese government, according to a statement.

The move marks a solidifying of the two sides’ relationship, after years in which St Lucia moved back and forth diplomatically between Taiwan and China.

After Anthony’s election in 2011, the Prime Minister ordered a report on whether to sever ties with Taiwan and go back to relations with China, he announced in September 2012 that the country would maintain its ties with the island.

Anthony had severed ties with Taiwan in 1997 in favour of relations with China, a move reversed by then-Prime Minister Stephenson King in 2007.

The St Lucian delegation will return to the island on Saturday.