Chen's diplomacy garners wide praise

He said that the DPP government will not continue to give limitless economic assistance to its diplomatic allies.

"President Chen could, of course, not overturn the foreign diplomacy strategies of the former KMT government as soon as he got elected.

"How to adjust the strategy of economic assistance to diplomatic allies without it leading to a chain reaction of countries breaking off diplomatic ties is a burden for the DPP when conducting its foreign diplomacy," the official said.

Yang Tzu-pao (楊子葆), Deputy Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' International Cooperation and Development Foundation (國合會, ICDF), pointed out that many allies are still waiting for results from Taiwan's plan for economic assistance.

Yang cited the Formosa Industrial Park in Honduras, the Fort David Export Processing Zone in Panama, and the Eastern City Industrial Park in Paraguay as some examples.

"The new government shouldn't constantly worry about the breaking off of diplomatic relations just to maintain its number of diplomatic allies, but [instead should worry about] the problem of how to strike a balance between giving quality help without giving money and keeping already existing diplomatic relations is still a very difficult task," said a high-level official in the National Security Council.