President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) is back home after a 16-day trip to Latin America, complete with stopovers in New York and Houston, and attendance at a Central American summit in El Salvador. Developing friendship for Taiwan and raising the ROC's international profile, consolidating diplomatic relations and strengthening Taiwan's participation in the international community are all clear achievements of the trip. Chen has written a new page in the annals of Taiwan diplomacy, which has faced a difficult situation since the 1970s.
The main achievement of the trip, and also the thing that most excited the people of Taiwan, were the stopovers in the US. Because of the emphasis put on these stopovers by international media, they even overshadowed the visit to Latin America. The US government eased previous restrictions on stopovers by Taiwan's president for the visits to New York City and Houston. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher even indirectly encou-raged members of Congress to meet with Chen when he said on May 14, "We believe that meetings between members of Congress and foreign leaders have a positive benefit of advancing our national interest."
Due to Chen's visits, the Congress passed two important resolutions in a row in the middle of May, one expressing a welcome to Chen and another urging the US administration to view Taiwan as an important non-NATO ally. This is a major development in Taiwan-US relations, establishing a new foundation for the relationship between the two countries and ample space for its further development.
Something which has been less noticed, but which is nonetheless very important, was Taiwan's ability to mobilize support in the US. In the past, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs often encountered hostility from different overseas Chinese organizations, with the result that the groups ended up neutralizing each other.
But, for the stopovers in the US, and even for the visits to Latin America, all moved as one -- from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs through the embassies, consulates, representative offices and the Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission (
The cooperation between different overseas Chinese organizations created a new experience of cooperation and mutual trust. Their cooperation has created a "community of destiny" among overseas Chinese organizations, something that will add great power to Taiwan's ability to exert grass-roots political influence in the US and improve Taiwan-US relations. For accomplishing all this, we should applaud and encourage the minister of foreign affairs, our representative in the US, the deputy representative in charge of political and overseas Chinese affairs, and the overseas Chinese leaders who cooperated so wholeheartedly.
Recent opinion polls have shown that a majority of people in Taiwan are pleased with Chen's five-nation Latin American tour. One poll, conducted at the end of May showed that 66 percent of respondents believe that the tour was helpful in expanding Taiwan's diplomatic ties and only 16 percent believe that it was not helpful.
A poll carried out by the China Times also showed that 63 percent of respondents believe that the tour helped raise Taiwan's international status, while only 28 percent believe that it was not. Over half of the respondents were satisfied with the tour, compared to only 20 percent who said they were dissatisfied. It is clear that a majority of the people rate Chen's tour highly, and this is most certainly an achievement worth celebrating for a government that has slipped and stumbled and been restrained every step of the way.
The ROC will of course not be able to roam freely and unrestrained, and there's still a long way before a president of Taiwan will be visiting Washington, London, Paris and Tokyo. The Chinese government mobilized mass protests throughout this trip, just as if they wanted to bring bad luck to Taiwan. The change in diplomatic relations between Taiwan and Macedonia is of course also the result of China's efforts to undermine those relations. We have also seen journalists in Hong Kong spreading news that the Chinese government is to hold large-scale military exercises, with specific targets in mind, on Dongshan Island. Clearly, Taiwan still finds itself in a difficult diplomatic position, and in times of difficulty a doubling of efforts is needed.
The people of Taiwan should be able to recognize that there is a price to pay for Taiwan's efforts to develop its foreign diplomacy, and many difficulties are variables that need to be considered in the process of making diplomatic and security policy. They should already have recognized that it is only by means of a more flexible diplomacy and broader diplomatic playground that Taiwan will have the strength to curb the great pressure coming from Beijing.
Diplomacy is an important affair of state which concerns the interests of the whole population, regardless of ethnic group or party affiliation. The images, continuously broadcast in Taiwan during Chen's 16 day tour, of legislators from different parties working with the president to give the people of Taiwan better access to the world, and the world better access to Taiwan, must move people and must also give us hope for Taiwan.
Joseph Wu is deputy director of the Institute of International Relations at National Chengchi University.
Translated by Perry Svensson
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