Government officials yesterday urged Nauru not to be taken in by Beijing after the president from the tiny Pacific island -- without the backing of his Cabinet -- sealed an agreement in Hong Kong establishing diplomatic ties with China and turning its back on Taiwan.
"Nauru's acting president Remy Namaduk said he and the majority of the Cabinet members disagreed with the president's decision," said Katharine Chang (
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
"He said he has tried to persuade the president to think twice, asking us to give them some time," Chang said, declining to announce any decision to sever diplomatic ties with Nauru.
The press conference was held hours after President of Nauru Rene Harris signed a joint communique with the Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Zhou Wenzhong (
The China-Nauru deal was sealed on the basis of China's promise to offer Nauru US$60 million in financial aid as well as the promise to repay debt worth US$77 million owed to the General Electric Co, Chang said.
President Chen Shui-bian (
Chang said Taipei is "unwilling" to go ahead with what she called a "cash competition" with China in order to secure diplomatic ties with the 21km2 nation with an estimated population of around 11,845.
"Nauru has faced onerous financial difficulties and has made quite a lot requests to us. We are willing to help ... but we won't accept any demand that goes beyond what we consider the reasonable scale," Chang said.
According to the CIA World Factbook, Nauru is burdened with external debts of about US$33.3 million.
During a meeting in Australia on June 15 with Peter Cheng (
Chang urged Harris to reconsider his decision to switch recognition to Beijing. "China has often made promises, only to find itself unable to keep them," Chang said.
Chang said the foreign ministry has known of various previous contacts between Nauru and China in recent years and knew about Harris' trip to Hong Kong.
But she admitted that Taipei was in the dark about the signing until China's state-run Xinhua news agency revealed the episode yesterday.
Harris' move in Hong Kong also took the rest of the Cabinet members in Nauru by surprise, officials said.
"They would not have thought that it could happen. Harris was on leave in Australia to cure his eye aliment. And then he informed the Cabinet of his decision to fly to Hong Kong to have clothes tailored before flying to Malaysia for vacation," an insider said.
On July 17, Harris phoned Namaduk to reveal China's promise to offer financial assistance to Nauru in exchange for switching ties, government sources said.
Harris also asked Namaduk to convene an emergency Cabinet meeting to endorse his decision to take up Beijing's offer, a motion later denied by the Cabinet, the insider said.
Chang stressed that the issue still hung in the balance as internal disagreements within the Nauru government over the decision to cut ties with Taiwan have yet to be resolved.
As of 11pm local time in Nauru, Namaduk and Nauru's finance minister, Godfrey Thoma, were still gathering at Taipei's embassy in the tiny pacific state, trying to persuade Harris to change his mind, government sources said.
"We have to watch closely whether Harris will fly to Beijing, or he whether he'll go to Malaysia to receive [medical] treatment," the insider said.
Nauru government officials were not available yesterday for comment.
After being contacted by Taipei's representative Kuo Sheng-ming (
"Any country that wishes to forge friendly relations with Nauru must do so without any conditions attached to the friendship. To ask for such would seriously undermine Nauru's sovereignty," the letter stated.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat
RSS