Taiwan signed a joint communique with seven of its diplomatic allies in Central America and the Caribbean on Thursday, but a proposal that the document also include a clause stating that Taiwan is an independent nation that deserves to join international organizations such as the UN and WHO was left out of the document.
Leaders from Guatemala, El Salvador, Belize, Nicaragua, Panama, Honduras and the Dominican Republic put pen to paper during the ceremony, where it was also revealed that Taiwan has offered NT$330 million (US$10 million) over the next 10 years to help its allies nurture and develop technical talent.
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) did not seem to be overly concerned about the omission of the clause when approached by Taiwanese reporters for comment after the summit.
PHOTO: AFP
"It's OK that they express their support for us in other ways and means as long as we reach the goal," he said.
Chen said it was common knowledge that not all of the nation's diplomatic allies supported Taiwan's attempts to join international organizations.
different reasons
PHOTO: CNA
While different countries have different reasons for their stances, Chen said that he could understand their difficulties and believed it would not affect the relations between Taiwan and its allies.
Chen, who was scheduled to leave for El Salvador yesterday, is in Central America on a three-nation visit.
He said that he had planned to announce the 10-year, US$10 million project at the summit, but Nicaragua brought it up first, so he responded.
"We are not writing a check here, but doing something that is meaningful for our friends," he said.
UN standard
Chen said that Taiwan's foreign aid as a percentage of the nation's GDP was considerably lower than the UN standard recommendation of 0.7 percent.
Taiwan used to accept aid from other countries, but now it is time to help others, he said.
Minister of Foreign Affairs James Huang (黃志芳) said that the government would commence channeling the money next year, and added that the public should not interpret the aid as "checkbook diplomacy."
Among the proposals that Taiwan "gladly accepted" in the communique was a study of the possibility of establishing a fund to assist the nation's diplomatic allies in Central America and the Caribbean with the improvement of their infrastructure.
Another was to encourage state-run businesses in Taiwan to invest in the region and also to use the "Jung Pang Project" in a more flexible manner.
The "Jung Pang Project" refers to the investment project worth NT$7.5 billion that Chen announced during his last visit to Central America in October 2005.
Development
The funding was allocated to promote the development of the nation's allies in Central and South America by coordinating non-governmental resources to invest there.
Regarding a US$300 million hydroelectric power station that Taiwan plans to help Honduras construct, Chen said that it was not a new development, and that Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
This was when Wang acted as Chen's representative at the inauguration ceremony for Honduran President Manuel Zelaya.
The US$5 million low interest loan to Honduras was not new either, Chen said, as the International Cooperation and Development Fund approved the budget in March.
Meanwhile in Taiwan, the Chen's promise to help build the hydroelectric plant in Honduras provoked more debate between the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucuses yesterday.
At a press conference held at the legislature, KMT caucus whip Hsu Shao-ping (
Citing a survey conducted by the Chinese-language Apple Daily among 607 people on Thursday, Hsu said about 78.93 percent of the respondents said they were opposed to the government's plan to subsidize Taiwan's allies.
"The results showed that people are very resentful of checkbook diplomacy," Hsu said.
KMT Legislator Lee Ching-an (李慶安), who was also at the conference, lashed out at the president, saying that he was trying to "cover up the disorder of domestic affairs and the economy by focusing on diplomacy."
Meanwhile, the DPP caucus threw its support behind the president, saying that the foreign aid was a reciprocal investment in Honduras.
"Checkbook diplomacy only existed when the KMT was in power," DPP Legislator Yeh Yi-chin (
"After the DPP came to power, it realized that it is impossible to make real friends by giving out money and that we can never compete with China in the checkbook diplomacy stakes," she said.
"The public should not think of our diplomatic efforts as checkbook diplomacy," Yeh said.
Taiwan has arranged for about 8 million barrels of crude oil, or about one-third of its monthly needs, to be shipped from the Red Sea this month to bypass the Strait of Hormuz and ease domestic supply pressures, CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) said yesterday. The state-run oil company has worked with Middle Eastern suppliers to secure routes other than the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20 percent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas typically passes, CPC chairman Fang Jeng-zen (方振仁) said at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee in Taipei. Suppliers in Saudi Arabia have indicated they
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
AIR ALERT: China’s reservation of airspace over the Yellow Sea and East China Sea could be an attempt to test the US’ response ahead of a Trump-Xi meeting, the NSB head said China’s attempts to infiltrate Taiwan are systematic, planned and targeted, with activity shifting from recruiting mid-level military officers to rank-and-file enlisted personnel, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) integrates national security, intelligence operations and “united front” efforts into a dense network to conduct intelligence gathering and espionage in Taiwan, Tsai said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee. It uses specific networks to screen targets through exchange activities and recruiting local collaborators to establish intelligence-gathering organizations, he said. China is also shifting who it targets to lower-ranking military personnel,
RSS