Premier Yu Shyi-kun said yesterday the government did not promise a large aid package to the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu in exchange for diplomatic recognition of Taiwan.
Yu made the remarks during a Legislative Yuan question-and-answer session where Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Sun Guo-hua (
"Previous foreign wire service reports said Taiwan pledged to offer a grant of US$28 million (NT$950 million) to Vanuatu but later reports said the aid amount could reach US$6 billion. Were those reports correct?" Sun asked.
In response, Yu said the government is likely to pledge aid while establishing diplomatic relations with a specific country, but has never pledged an extremely large special offer to a single diplomatic ally.
Even though he has not yet read the joint communique signed by Minister of Foreign Affairs Mark Chen (
Asked whether the reported US$6 billion aid offer could be paid out of the confidential budgets of the Presidential Office or the national security units, Yu ruled out that possibility, saying that all of the nation's foreign aid has consistently been listed in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' "secret budget" section.
Vanuatu forged full-fledged diplomatic ties with Taiwan last Thursday after Vohor signed a joint communique with Chen to that effect. Vanuatu, which has a population of about 200,000, is Taiwan's 27th diplomatic ally.
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
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