In a low-profile move, Taiwan last week extended a three-decade-old agricultural cooperation agreement with Thailand, a relationship dubbed by an insider as being of great diplomatic significance.
Despite pressure from China, Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Hung-mao (田弘茂) went to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand on Thursday to extend the Royal Cooperative Research and Development project with Thailand.
"It's a very meaningful move," said Yang Tzu-pao (楊子葆), acting Secretary-General of International Cooperation and Development Fund (ICDF), the principal body that oversees Taiwan's foreign aid programs.
Tien, however, declined to meet the press to answer questions about his trip to Thailand after returning to Taiwan -- a departure from precedent set by the minister after previous clandestine forays.
"The importance of this project is that the ROC did not cancel it after diplomatic ties with Thailand ended. Moreover, the organization in charge of the project has undergone many changes signifying Taiwan's desire to maintain the program," Yang said, who accompanied Tien on the trip.
Taiwan's Vocational Assistance Commission for Retired Servicemen (TVACRS) pioneered the pro-ject in 1969 and an agreement signed in 1972 formally brought the program into existence, Yang said.
The ICDF, which was formed in 1996, took up responsibility for the program from the TVACRS.
"Tien attaches great importance to the project because it enhances the interaction with Thailand, and it helps demonstrate Taiwan's role in countering drug trafficking," added Yang.
"Northern Thailand used to be part of the Golden Triangle where opium trafficking was rampant, but our efforts to promote vegetable and fruit cultivation over the years have helped make the opium fields [in Thailand] disappear," Yang said.
Not too long ago the Golden Triangle -- the region where Burma, Laos and Thailand meet at a wide bend in the Mekong River -- was notorious for its drug lords and rebel armies.
"The ICDF has over the past six years completed three phases of the project, which has seen local farmer incomes increase by nearly six fold," Yang said.
However, Tien did not sign the renewed agreement, which was also inked by Thailand's Prince Bhisatej Rajani, in his capacity as minister of foreign affairs. He signed the document in his capacity as chairman of the ICDF -- an apparent ploy to soothe diplomatic sensitivities.
Tien made his first trip to Thailand over last year's Chinese New Year holiday, also in his capacity as ICDF chairman, to gain first-hand knowledge of the on-going agricultural-cooperation projects.
During that trip, Tien was invited by the Thai royal family to attend the birthday celebrations of the Thai King, Bhumibol Adulyadej, in January last year.
The ICDF last year also granted its first Lifetime Achievement Award to Thailand's Prince Bhisatej Rajani for a lifetime of dedication to the Royal Project, Yang said.
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