The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday sought to downplay a planned visit by the president of Sao Tome and Principe to China, saying the west African country had informed Taipei of the matter and that it would not affect diplomatic relations.
Sao Tomean President Manuel Pinto da Costa is scheduled to visit Shanghai to invite Chinese businesspeople and industrialists to invest in a deep-water port project in the island country, the ministry said.
China set up a trade mission in Sao Tome and Principe late last year, making it the first of Taiwan’s then-four diplomatic allies in Africa to have a Chinese trade mission. Not long after that, the Gambia abruptly severed ties with Taiwan.
Photo: EPA
While the establishment of the Chinese trade mission represented a diplomatic setback for Taiwan, Taiwanese officials sought to downplay the move by saying it was understandable given the economic advantages it would bring to Sao Tome.
In a press release yesterday, the ministry said the African country had informed Taipei about Pinto da Costa’s trip early on and that it had a firm grasp of the matter.
“In order to uphold our dignity and the ties between the two countries, the ministry has ordered our ambassador to Sao Tome and Principe to reassert our stand, and express our opposition and concerns to President Manuel Pinto da Costa about our ally visiting China,” the ministry said.
“[We] have also summoned Sao Tome and Principe Ambassador Antonio Quintas, asking him to convey our concerns,” the ministry said.
A source who requested anonymity said the ministry had talked to Quintas several times about Pinto da Costa’s visit after being notified about his plans about a week ago.
Quintas was not available for comment yesterday.
Sao Tome and Principe’s embassy in Taiwan told the Taipei Times that the ambassador has nothing more to add to what has already been said in the ministry’s statement.
According to the ministry, Pinto da Costa had informed Taiwan’s embassy that his visit was “personal” in nature, the aim of which is to attract Chinese investment for the country’s deep-water port project and to galvanize Sao Tome’s economic development.
An official was quoted by the Chinese-language Apple Daily as saying that as the project requires an investment of at least US$500 million and since the Taiwanese government could not provide support, the African ally was forthright about the necessity of the investment and the need to look for other financial sources.
Pinto da Costa has nevertheless affirmed that he would not engage in any official activity during his visit to China and promised that there would be no changes to the diplomatic ties between the two nations, the ministry said.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) visited Sao Tome in January, following a failed visit in April 2012 when Taipei received a last-minute notice that Pinto da Costa was unavailable to receive him.
“President Pinto da Costa himself wrote a letter to President Ma [on Wednesday] reiterating the above-mentioned stance and stating that he would visit Taiwan at the end of this year or early next year,” the ministry said.
The ministry said that the government’s “flexible diplomacy” policy promotes peaceful coexistence across the Taiwan Strait, while protecting Taiwan’s international space.
It called on the Sao Tomean government to treasure the long-term friendly ties between the two countries and to “avoid similar events from happening again.”
Sao Tome and Principe had been a diplomatic ally of China when it became independent from Portugal in 1975 before it switched recognition to Taiwan in 1997.
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