Salvadoran president-elect Mauricio Funes told President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) that his new administration would maintain diplomatic ties with Taiwan, despite supporting closer relations with Beijing during his election campaign.
Presidential Office Public Affairs Department Director Tsai Chung-li (蔡仲禮), who is accompanying Ma, said Funes told Ma during their meeting that his administration hoped to develop business relations with China.
Ma told Funes he was not against the idea, but hoped his administration would continue diplomatic relations with Taiwan as the two were not mutually exclusive.
PHOTO: AP
Funes told Ma that based on the long-standing friendship and cooperation between Taiwan and El Salvador, he would “maintain diplomatic relations with the Republic of China.”
After Funes expressed concern over the development of his country’s agricultural sector, Ma promised to provide El Salvador with technical assistance in rice and fruit cultivation as well as aquaculture.
Ma also touched on the issue of clean government, saying that future foreign aid would be distributed under the principles of legality, effectiveness and appropriateness.
Ma was leading a 159-member delegation to Funes’ inauguration yesterday. Accompanying him were first lady Chow Mei-ching (周美青), local government heads, college officials, student representatives and a performance group.
Ma made a stopover in Los Angeles on his way to El Salvador and will stop in Seattle on his way back. The delegation is scheduled to return to Taipei on Thursday.
Before Ma’s meeting with Funes, he visited outgoing Salvadoran President Elias Antonio Saca.
Saca, who was close to former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), was 40 minutes late, cutting the scheduled 50-minute meeting to 30 minutes.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Francisco Ou (歐鴻鍊), who is also on the trip, said Saca was late because he had to meet leaders from more than 10 counties.
Commenting on local reports that China would send a delegation to the inauguration, Ou said his understanding was that they would be Chinese Communist Party representatives. He did not know the capacity in which they would be visiting and said there would be no concerns over dual recognition if they were not government officials.
During interviews with Salvadoran media, Ma said his administration would continue to strive for Taiwan’s participation in UN activities.
Describing Taiwan’s attendance at this year’s World Health Assembly as an observer as a “significant breakthrough,” Ma said his government would adopt a more proactive, diverse and practical approach to seek participation in UN activities.
Ma also touted his cross-strait policy, saying a flexible approach had improved relations across the Taiwan Strait.
“Under such circumstances, El Salvador does not have to take sides because you can keep diplomatic ties with Taiwan and develop trade relations with China,” he said.
Meanwhile, National Security Council Secretary-General Su Chi (蘇起), who is also traveling with Ma, called reports that he had secretly visited Washington last week “misinformation.”
The Chinese-language China Times quoted anonymous sources as saying that Su’s clandestine visit to Washington was a “breakthrough in dialogue on national security.”
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