To mend ties with Taiwan after a series of recent diplomatic snafus, Solomon Islands Prime Minister Monasseh Sogavare will begin his one-week visit to Taiwan today, foreign ministry officials said yesterday.
Sogavare is sceduled to open the country's long-delayed embassy in Taipei as well as discuss the war-torn country's financial aid request with Taiwan, sources said.
"Sogavare will meet with the premier, the foreign minister and perhaps the president," said Henry Chen (
Sogavare will be accompanied by a group of nine people, including the country's finance minister Snyder Rini and special advisor Edward Hunuehu during his trip to Taiwan, sources inside the Solomons said. The country's controversial foreign minister, Danny Philip, however, will not visit Taipei.
Sogavare cancelled his original plan to attend the South Pacific Forum meeting in Kiribati -- the biggest annual gathering of Pacific leaders -- and instead decided to travel to Taiwan, the Solomons' ally for the past 17 years, in an effort to mend ties with Taipei following a series of diplomatic rifts between the two countries.
But Sogavare's trip is not purely a fence-mending expedition, as George Kiriau, permanent secretary of the finance ministry, has said that Sogavare will be seeking US$34 million in aid from Taiwan as well as a US$25 million loan to help implement a peace deal that was signed between two of the country's ethnic militias this month.
Earlier this month, frustrated by Taiwan's reluctance to agree to grant requested financial aid of US$60 million, foreign minister Philip cancelled his scheduled trip to Taiwan to attend national day celebrations and the opening of his country's embassy without giving a reason.
Philip then traveled to Hong Kong where he met Chinese officials to discuss China's financial offer to the crisis-torn state, a deal that involved cutting links with Taiwan.
Although the country's Cabinet decided on Oct. 19 that ties with Taipei would remain "intact" -- after reviewing the pros and cons of choosing between Taipei and Beijing -- a subsequent press release issued by the Cabinet on the same day raised eyebrows in Taiwan.
The statement, despite including the Cabinet's decision, said Taiwan was to blame for the diplomatic fiasco, citing as a cause the "inexperience" of Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Hung-mao (田弘茂) in handling Taiwan-Solomons ties.
Despite the country's timely apology as well as Sogavare's announcement on Oct. 20 about his plan to visit Taiwan, critics say it's premature to be optimistic about ties between Taiwan and the Solomons.
Opposition lawmakers in the Solomons called on Sogavare Thursday to apologize to his Taiwanese counterpart for the recent diplomatic flirtation with China.
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