Gambia's President Yahya Jammeh reaffirmed that his nation's relations with Taiwan were strong and actively voiced his support for Taiwan's return to the UN, saying that 1.2 billion Chinese could never negate the right of 23 million Taiwanese to express their free will.
"Just like East Timor, nations can exercise their right to self-determination by holding a plebiscite," Jammeh said during a summit Sunday with President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).
"Taiwan, which has a larger population than East Timor, should have the same right," Jammeh said.
PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-CHANG, TAIPEI TIMES
Chen did not respond directly to Jammeh's statement about Taiwan's right to hold a referendum. He did, however, say that Gambia's trenchant stance on freedom, democracy and human rights gave it a loud voice in the international community, in spite of the country's small size.
Chen was in Gambia's capital, Banjul, on the fourth stop of his two-week foreign trip. He said Taiwan would continue all cooperation projects, agreements, and financial aid initiated by the former KMT administration.
During a meeting with Jammeh at his home, Chen expressed the appreciation of the Taiwan government toward Gambia for its strong support for Taiwan's bid to return to the UN.
PHOTO: CHEN CHEN-CHANG, TAIPEI TIMES
Jammeh said that while Gambia had been under great pressure from China, he and his government had never changed their position on Taiwan.
"Our country always supports those countries which stand for freedom and justice," Jammeh said, according to deputy secretary-general of the Presidential Office Eugene Chien (簡又新) who was at the meeting.
Jammeh said that Taiwan was the first republic in Asia to uphold justice, democracy, freedom and human rights. Therefore, people in China could not abrogate the rights of the Taiwanese.
Chen said that Taiwan's new government would definitely be willing to assist Gambia's government in a new aid project called New Hope for 2020 (2020,
The program aims to raise the level of the average Gambian's income to that of a middle-income nation by enhancing the country's agricultural techniques, health equipment, public construction, and electric power supply.
As the first non-African head of state to visit Gambia, Chen received a warm welcome. Gambian officials said that almost half of Banjul's 60,000 residents gathered along the route from the airport to the city, waving the flags of the two countries as they greeted Chen and his delegation.
Chen invited Jammeh to visit Taiwan in November and Jammeh immediately accepted. It would be Jammeh's third trip to Taiwan.
Following a state banquet on Sunday evening, Jammeh gave Chen the medal of the Grand Commander of the National Order of the Republic of Gambia.
Chen and the 200-member delegation left Gambia yesterday after the two presidents signed a joint communique. Chen was to travel to Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso.
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