Checks on checks needed
An about NT$45 million (US$1.48 million) donation Taiwan made to Kiribati for the procurement of a landing craft to improve inter-island transportation in the Pacific nation has not been transferred to the shipbuilding company that was meant to build the craft — It has instead been deposited in an offshore bank account. I-Kiribati Minister of Commerce Pinto Katia has said the funds have been “stolen” and there is nothing his government can do.
I may not be a diplomat or have any experience in foreign policy, but I — and probably most Taiwanese — cannot help wondering why the government did not order the boat from the shipbuilder and then give the finished vessel to Kiribati’s government. Did that option simply not occur to anyone, or was it too complicated or difficult? Perhaps officials are so stuck in their ways they could not think of a different way to do things.
Although this donation is not very large compared with the hundreds of millions handed out in the past without further thought, it is not the first time a foreign aid donation has disappeared into someone’s pockets.
There are several previous examples, such as when a former Salvadorean president allegedly misappropriated US$15 million in Taiwanese earthquake relief funds, or when former Liberian president Charles Taylor supposedly misappropriated US$20 million of Taiwanese economic assistance. How come Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials are not more careful after having repeatedly made the same mistake?
Since every cent of these donations comes from taxpayers’ hard-earned money, such funds must be spent where it counts. We may not think of ourselves as engaging in checkbook diplomacy, but if Taiwan gives out money without monitoring where it ends up, it will be hard to stop recipient countries from thinking that.
Wei Shih-chang
Yilan
US voters, follow Taiwanese
My sisters and brothers in the US, we must follow the example of our Taiwanese and Hong Kong brethren and get involved — We must vote.
This is a midterm election year in the US. That means elections for city mayors, city councils, state lawmakers, congress members and senators, but remember: Democrats are better than Republicans.
Many historians say former US president Franklin Roosevelt — a Democrat — was the best US president. Poor, middle-class and rich Americans all make more money under Democratic presidents than under Republicans. Former US president Jimmy Carter warned we are too greedy, but then, in the 12 years under former Republican US presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush “greed was good.”
The US economy did better under former US president Bill Clinton than under Reagan or Bush: GDP was higher, the stock market was higher and unemployment lower. More poor Americans moved into the middle class than under Reagan and there was a balanced budget and a surplus — not seen under Reagan or Bush.
Former US president George W. Bush took office only after the US Supreme Court gave him Florida — there was no recount. In the first seven months of his presidency, before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the US, George W. Bush was on vacation 40 percent of the time.
When he learned of the attacks, he sat in a chair for seven minutes. Months later, he stopped looking for former al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and invaded Iraq, which had nothing to do with the attacks. During the Iraq War, 4,000 Americans and more than 150,000 Iraqis died. When George W. Bush left the White House, unemployment was higher than when he first took office and growing, and we had national debt again.
US President Barack Obama oversaw the killing of bin Laden and unemployment is lower now than it was when he first took office, as is the national debt, while more Americans have healthcare now than before.
Guatemalan children fleeing to the US. Do we have an ambassador to Guatemala? No, the Republican-controlled US Congress blocked Obama’s nomination. Russia is at war with Ukraine. Do we have an ambassador to Russia? No, congress blocked Obama’s nomination. There is an Ebola outbreak. Do we have a surgeon-general? No, congress blocked Obama’s nomination.
After Carter left the White House, he built houses for the homeless. After Reagan left, he died. After the first Bush left the White House, he played golf. After Clinton left, he built houses for the homeless in Africa.
Go to the American Institute in Taipei with your passport and register to vote.
Andres Chang
Banciao, New Taipei City
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