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Taiwan to hold September summit with Pacific allies

Taiwan will hold its first ever summit with its six Pacific island allies in Palau in early September, Marshall Islands President Kessai Note said yesterday.

The Pacific Islands have been a battleground for diplomatic recognition between Taiwan and China and the summit between Taipei and its allies follows a similar meeting between Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) and Beijing's allies in Fiji in May.

President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) will be making his third trip to the Pacific in two years for the Sept. 4 summit.

The six Pacific island countries which recognize Taiwan are the Marshall Islands, Palau, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Kiribati and Nauru.

Taiwan's ambassador to the Marshall Islands, Chen Lien-gene (陳連軍) said the summit would be an annual event.

"The main purpose of this summit is to review and discuss the cooperation between Taiwan and the Pacific region as a whole," the ambassador said.

The theme will be good governance and government capacity-building and a health forum will be held at the same time, he added.

"It is important that we work closely in the region with our development partners," Note said in a statement. "Taiwan has done tremendous work in the Marshall Islands to improve the health, education and living standards."

Next year's summit would be held in the Marshall Islands capital Majuro, according to an agreement between the Taiwanese and Marshall Islands governments.

The competition between China and Taiwan for recognition in the Pacific has worried analysts in the region, who fear it could increase political instability.

Impoverished island countries have swapped their allegiance between Beijing and Taipei over the years and have been adept at playing the two off against each other, winning handsome aid packages.

There have also been accusations that local politicians have been bribed for support.
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