Chen confronts foreign policy dilemma head-on

On his first round of state visits, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) is facing the uncomfortable dilemma of shaking hands with totalitarian leaders despite his government's call for human rights diplomacy, as he tries to consolidate Taiwan's diplomatic ties with these countries all at the same time.

The main challenge to the new government is how to revamp Taiwan's foreign aid system to benefit not a specific political party but the people of the country.

From what Chen said during his first two stops, in the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua, he has issued a mandate to Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Hung-mao (田弘茂) to do not only that, but also push for more transparency in the process.

In the Dominican Republic, Chen warned that China's constant pressure no longer serves as a cover for diplomatic failures.

"Such an excuse is definitely not a good one. Those who do not expect to succeed can always find an excuse to cover their faults. Those who are confident of succeeding can certainly accomplish great things," Chen said in Santo Domingo last week.

Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政), chairman of the foreign ministry's research and planning board said the comments were meant to revitalize Taiwan's diplomatic establishment.

"Chen is very assertive and shows that he wants change," Lo said.

"It can't be business as usual around here, it has to be better than that."

Taiwan's ambassador to Nicaragua Antonio Tsai (蔡德三) advised Chen a surprisingly frank brief to halt aid to the country's corrupt government, commenting on the apparent paradox in Taiwan's foreign policy.

European countries and the US have partly halted aid to President Arnoldo Aleman's government and have criticized the way Taiwan administers its foreign aid to assist in the rebuilding of government infrastructure in Nicaragua, Tsai said.

In response, Chen stressed that the new government will continue all projects initiated by the former KMT government while pointing out the people of Nicaragua have been ill-fated.

"When there are things which God cannot complete, humans should help," Chen said, pointing out that Nicaragua had suffered 50 years of dictatorship and 11 years of civil war, as well as frequent natural disasters.

His government's emphasis on a human rights and NGO-driven diplomacy is an attempt to shift away from the KMT's age-old practice of engaging a country's government, which usually led to a break in diplomatic ties when a new political party came to power.

Former foreign minister Jason Hu (胡志強) is skeptical of the new government's initiative.

"I don't think the president should place too much of his own personality in foreign policy ... he is criticizing the system and any fault with it either `belongs to the previous government' or `he didn't know about it,'" Hu said.

"All diplomacy needs foreign aid. There is no need to be apologetic about it," he said.

Lo stressed that the new government is preparing to eradicate the KMT's traditional policy with a proposed international cooperation law which is awaiting a place on the agenda when the Legislative Yuan resumes its session next month.

"What we want to do is to establish trust with the public and make foreign aid more transparent and accountable," he said.