Tue, Jul 23, 2002 page1

• Nauru faces ultimatum on relations

  CUTTING TIES The tiny Pacific island state must immediately overturn plans to switch recognition to Beijing or face the consequences, the minister of foreign affairs said yesterday

  • By Monique Chu / STAFF REPORTER
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  Taiwan yesterday urged the tiny Pacific island state of Nauru to rethink its president's plan to switch diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China, while lashing out at Beijing's most recent effort to diplomatically constrain Taipei.

  "If by 10am [today] we can't get a 100 percent clear statement from Nauru's Cabinet denying the agreement signed by President [Rene] Harris, we will cut all diplomatic ties with the country," Minister of Foreign Affairs Eugene Chien (簡又新) told a news conference yesterday afternoon.

  Chien's statement came one day after Nauru's President Harris signed a joint communique with Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Zhou Wenzhong (周文重) in Hong Kong, saying Nauru recognized China as the sole legitimate Chinese government and that Taiwan was part of China.

  

  PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES

  Nauru would cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan and close its embassy in Taipei within a month, the communique said, although Nauru has never established an embassy in Taiwan.

  Internal discord within Nauru's Cabinet over the president's decision adds new confusion to the already shaky diplomatic ties between Taipei and Nauru, which were forged in 1980.

  "Nauru's acting President Remy Namaduk issued a diplomatic note to Taiwan at 2am local time, saying that Nauru's foreign ministry would like to inform the highest authorities in Taiwan that ties between the two countries remain unchanged," revealed Peter Cheng (鄭博久), director-general of the ministry's department of East Asian and Pacific affairs.

  All this comes despite the fact that President Harris also serves as the minister of foreign affairs, and is in charge of the civil service, investments, industry, public works, home affairs and is also in charge of the civil aviation authority.

  Cheng also admitted that Harris had reached Malaysia by yesterday afternoon to receive medical treatment -- the originally stated purpose of his trip.

  In an unusually harsh tone, Chien accused Beijing of having promised around US$140 million to Nauru in exchange for its switch of diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing.

  "As a giant state ... China played the cash game by offering over 100 million Chinese Yuan to a country 21km2 in diameter, which is less than half the size of the Pudong International Airport in Shanghai and with a population as small as 10,000," Chien said.

  Chien went on to beseech overseas students from China to question the legitimacy of what he termed China's practice of "money diplomacy."

  "While there are so many people jobless people in China, doesn't such an approach disregard the well-being of its people?" Chien said.

  Chien also said he found it unreasonable that China would spend such a huge sum of money to secure diplomatic ties with Nauru while it remains an aid recipient from countries such as Japan.

  The minister then raised his voice further, saying Taiwan would not be dissuaded by Beijing's efforts to corner it.

  "We will never withdraw. We will advance vigorously. The Republic of China is a rose that cannot be flattened by pressure," Chien said, waving his hands as he delivered his remarks.

  When asked if what he meant was that Taipei was determined to add a new diplomatic ally in Nauru's place, Chien appeared to back down.

  "The public and the outside world will have to watch what we do," Chien said.

  "The reason I am so unyielding is that I doubt the utility of the two sides of the Strait engaging in this type of tug-of-war," he said.

  This type of dollar diplomacy has been practiced by both sides of the Strait over the years, as the zero-sum diplomatic game between Beijing and Taipei has played out.

  Chien said Taiwan would not lapse into a "cash competition" with Beijing to secure the country's diplomatic ties, claiming that Taipei's present allies -- 27 if one subtracts Nauru -- all have a clear grasp of Taiwan's position in this regard.
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