Taiwan should put more resources in "offensive" instead of "defensive" strategies in expanding the country's foreign relations, said Secretary-General of the National Security Council (NSC) Chiou I-jen (邱義仁) in a closed-door talk yesterday.
"Personally I relatively favor an offensive foreign policy. This doesn't mean that we should quarrel or fight with others. What I meant to say is if Taiwan sticks to an defensive strategy when dealing to other states, it would be a very hard job," Chiou told a roomful of diplomats at the foreign ministry yesterday.
Although Taipei has urged others to treat Taiwan as an equal at various meetings under APEC, the country's setback at the APEC summit last year indicated that to stick to a defensive tactic at the diplomatic front was not enough, Chiou said.
"If we at the time managed to ignite continuous fire [diplomatic efforts] elsewhere, Beijing would not have had time to foul us in APEC," Chiou said.
Taiwan was absent from the APEC summit in Shanghai last year after China refused to extend an invitation to former vice president Li Yuan-tzu (
But Chiou also cautioned his audience to adopt delicate measures to pursue such an offensive foreign policy.
"As long as our operational techniques in pursuing this offensive strategy are not crude nor going too far, this pursuit would do us little harm indeed," Chiou said.
Taiwan's offensive efforts in expanding ties with Mongolia recently, as well as its success in pushing the European Parliament to pass pro-Taiwan resolutions, have created pressures for Beijing, Chiou claimed.
Chiou also warned foreign ministry officials to avoid dropping points when moving offensively at the diplomatic front.
"For instance, the US ... cautioned us all day long not to facilitate President Chen's visit to Washington DC. And of course we got the message here," Chiou said, adding that any move by Taipei to push this matter further could backfire diplomatically.
It is the US longstanding practice not to allow the top five Taiwanese officials -- the president, vice president, premier, foreign minister and the defense minister -- to visit the US.
Chiou also suggested that the foreign ministry should develop a comprehensive brand-new project requiring political appointees in each ministry to conduct work-related overseas visits "at least once a year."
In the case of China, 54 high-ranking government officials have conducted 141 overseas visits embarking on the soil of some 86 countries from January to the end of June, Chiou said.
All of the seven members of China's Standing Committee of the Central Political Bureau have already conducted at least one overseas visit during the first six months of this year, the NSC chief added.
"The giant state has tried indeed hard, and we should not lag behind," he said.
Chiou's talk took place at the foreign ministry yesterday afternoon and served as part of the one-week seminars for the nations's representatives to Spain, Luxembourg, Argentina, India, Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, Melbourne and Chicago, Atlanta and Kansas in the US.
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