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MOFA defends short-lived ties with PNG
STAFF WRITER WITH CNA
Thursday, Feb 24, 2000, Page 3
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday blasted an advertisement linking the nation's establishment of diplomatic ties with Papua New Guinea last year to Vice President Lien Chan's election campaign.
The advertisement, placed in the Chinese-language China Times yesterday, says Taiwan provided US$2.3 billion to Papua New Guinea in exchange for diplomatic ties.
Without naming names, the ad also went on to take a stab at then-Minister of Foreign Affairs Jason Hu (胡志強), who is now Lien's campaign manager, and Lien's running mate, Premier Vincent Siew (蕭萬長).
Lamenting that MOFA has been dragged into Taiwan's upcoming presidential election, MOFA spokesman Henry Chen (陳銘政) categorically denied the accusation.
Chen said MOFA did not spend so much as a penny on setting up the short-lived diplomatic relations with Papua New Guinea.
Brushing aside the figure of US$2.3 billion which the announcement accused MOFA of spending to "buy" formal ties from the Papua New Guinea government, Chen said it would have been impossible for MOFA to spend such a sum, as MOFA's annual budget approved by the Legislative Yuan totals only US$600 million.
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