Taiwan has severed diplomatic ties with the Commonwealth of Dominica, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday, blaming China for trying to shame President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) after his election victory.
Dominica, a diplomatic ally of 21 years, had established ties with the People's Republic of China (PRC) on March 23.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Eugene Chien (
"The ROC government expressed strong displeasure and regret about the Dominican government's decision to establish diplomatic ties with the PRC under the latter's threats and allurement," said ministry spokesman Richard Shih (石瑞琦).
China's official Xinhua news agency disclosed at 12:10am yesterday that Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing (李肇星) and Dominican Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit signed a joint communique on the establishment of diplomatic ties in Beijing on March 23.
Chien blasted China's snatching away another Taiwanese ally as a deliberate act to shame Chen after he won the presidential election.
"In June 2001, China established diplomatic ties with Macedonia when President Chen was visiting Latin America. In July 2002, China established diplomatic relations with Nauru on the same day President Chen took over the Democratic Progressive Party chairmanship," Chien said.
After Macedonia, Nauru and Liberia, Dominica became the fourth ally Taiwan lost to China during Chen's term. The loss of the Caribbean state, however, sent shockwaves through the ministry, which has long viewed Latin America as a diplomatic stronghold.
Taiwan's relations with Dominica began to deteriorate after Skerrit was appointed prime minister on Jan. 8, two days after former prime minister Pierre Charles died of a heart attack.
Barely a week after Skerrit became prime minister, he asked Taiwan to give US$58 million in aid to his country. The aid package Skerrit demanded far exceeded the original amount Taiwan had agreed to provide for the two countries' cooperation projects, Chien said.
When asked by Taiwanese diplomats to reduce the aid package to a reasonable amount, Skerrit threatened to establish diplomatic ties with China, Chien said.
"In Skerrit's speech to the nation yesterday [Monday], he told his people that China has given the country US$117.5 million in aid," Chien said, adding that Skerrit said the money would be used for construction of public facilities such as hospitals, schools and roads.
"Skerrit, only 32, does not fully understand international politics and harbors undue expectations of China ... Taiwan doesn't want to join a checkbook diplomacy race with China," Chien said.
From January to this month, Taiwanese diplomats had been striving to dissuade Skerrit from building ties with Beijing through senior Dominican officials' help. But the efforts were in vain, Chien said.
Noting Dominica, with a population of around 70,000, has neither strategic nor economic significance to China, Chien said the only purpose of China's work to establish diplomatic ties with the Caribbean state was to achieve its goal of "eliminating the ROC."
"China wants to destroy all our diplomatic ties to virtually wipe out Taiwan's space for existence in the international community. But its behavior would neither help cross-strait relations nor earn the 23 million Taiwanese people's affection," Chien said.
Chen and Premier Yu Shyi-kun were informed of Dominica's move early yesterday morning.
Although Dominica switched diplomatic relations to Beijing, its foreign ministry still sent a congratulatory note on Chen's re-election, Chien said.
At a ministry press conference at 10:30am, Chien, Javier Hou (
Grace Tong (
Hou said that, since February, Taiwanese diplomats have been keeping a close eye on Tong, whose business in Dominica had been suffering. She served as Antigua and Barbuda's representative to China and began working secretly to forge China's ties with Dominica, Hou said.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique