Taiwanese in Gulf ready for war

Taiwanese based in countries around the Persian Gulf said yesterday they were preparing for repercussions from a US-led invasion of Iraq, as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied that Taiwanese diplomats have been recalled from the region.

"The situation is relatively quiet here," Mark Cheng (鄭松本), Taiwan's top representative to Bahrain, said via telephone from the small Gulf state.

Cheng said his office had received gas masks from the ministry and had bought others locally to distribute to some 20 Taiwanese nationals there.

Ministry spokeswoman Katharine Chang (張小月) said on Thursday that more than 300 gas masks have been sent to the Persian Gulf in a move to protect Taiwanese nationals should a war break out in Iraq.

In the case of Bahrain, at least 20 Taiwanese -- including diplomats, members of agricultural technical missions, those married to locals and businesspeople -- have been in close contact with the office, Cheng said.

A Kuwait-based Taiwanese diplomat, who identified himself as Kao, said a contingency plan had been formulated at the Taipei Commercial Representative Office should it need to help another 20 Taiwanese citizens there leave the country.

"Some of the 20 students and overseas Taiwanese here plan to leave in a few days," Kao said via telephone.

Taiwan's representative office in Kuwait had also received gas masks from the foreign ministry, Kao said.

"In view of the terrible lesson Kuwait learnt when Iraq invaded the country in 1990, the whole country is remaining cautious [this time], with frequent civil defense drills recently," he said.

"Experts in chemical and biological warfare from Germany and the Czech Republic have also come here to help the Kuwait government deal with any risk in this regard," he added.

Bahrain-based Cheng said compared to the situation in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, where US embassies have cautioned Americans to prepare to withdraw if necessary, the US embassy in Bahrain has not issued such a warning.

The foreign ministry yesterday denied a local newspaper report that all Taiwanese diplomats based in the region have been sent back to Taipei as a result of the increasing tension in the volatile region.

Chang has said out of the 3,000 Taiwanese citizens based in the Gulf region, 2,500 are in Saudi Arabia.

She said the ministry had sent clothing to protect against chemical and biological warfare to its offices in Kuwait and Israel.