Print

Mail

wiki links

Government mulls meeting with its South Pacific allies

In a bid to strengthen diplomatic relations with its allies in the South Pacific, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) will hold a ministerial meeting this year to help these countries deal with environmental issues.

Encouraged by the results of the ministerial meeting on environmental issues held between Taiwan and its allies in Central America last October, the ministry plans to adopt the same model while organizing one of its conferences with its allies in the South Pacific.

Discussions will focus on issues that are relevant to the island nations, including energy conservation, global warming and refuse disposal.

Foreign aid

Deputy Director of the ministry's Department of East Asian and Pacific Affairs Yu Te-sheng (于德勝) said yesterday that Taiwan's foreign aid had reached a higher level of sophistication and was now aimed at helping local people attain a better quality of life.

"Taiwan had been providing its allies with agricultural and fishing techniques and helping them build their infrastructures. But in recent years, we started to offer assistance that seeks to provide guidance to these nations to help them develop modern and democratic systems -- especially those which affect people's livelihood," Yu said.

The Mobile Medical Mission -- a diplomatic project that offers free medical services to Taiwan's allies in Africa and the South Pacific -- for example, has provided assistance to more than 35,000 patients in need.

"Do not underestimate these efforts," Yu said. "Free medical treatment and education on personal hygiene we have given our allies is genuine help. As a result, these countries always speak in favor of Taiwan at the World Health Assembly [of the WTO] and praise Taiwan's great contributions to their social development."

Varied assistance

Taiwan has also been helping the South Pacific islands narrow the digital gap separating them from developed countries and improve communication facilities, Yu said, citing such examples as help provided to "some small isles in developing solar energy to facilitate communication with other islands."

"It is the type of assistance which, in our opinion, is the most direct and useful to them," he said.

Addressing the problems associated with rising sea levels caused by global warming will be a major concern of the allies.

"To people living on islands, rising sea levels are the most direct threat to their lives," Yu said.
This story has been viewed 1901 times.