The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday it is closely monitoring Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhou Wenzhong's (周文重) three-day tour of Panama, an ally of Taiwan, which began yesterday.
Taiwan lost another Latin American ally, Dominica, to China less than three months ago. The ministry and its embassy in Panama are on high alert after obtaining word of Zhou's visit at the beginning of the month.
Ministry spokesman Richard Shih (石瑞琦) said that if Zhou, who is in charge of the Chinese Foreign Ministry's department of American, Oceanian and Latin American affairs, was intending to damage Taiwan's ties with Panama during his trip, "he will find that his efforts will have been in vain."
"The Panamanian government has promised us it will only maintain trade relations with China. We have been fully informed of Zhou's itinerary and activities during his stay in Panama," Shih added.
Shih said that Panamanian President Mireya Moscoso and the Panamanian foreign minister will not be meeting with Zhou.
Panamanian President-elect Martin Torrijos, of the Democratic Revolutionary Party, and his two vice presidents-to-be are not planning to receive Zhou, either, Shih said. Torrijos is scheduled to take office in September.
Apart from Panama, China is stepping up diplomatic efforts to win over Guatemala, Paraguay and Costa Rica, three of Taiwan's 13 allies in Latin America, Zhou said in a statement posted on the Chinese Foreign Ministry's Web site.
Meanwhile, Shih dismissed as superfluous a report in the Chinese-language China Times daily that the Panamanian government had transferred to a private foundation the ownership of a children's museum which Taiwan donated to Panama during its 100th anniversary last year.
Shih said that Taiwan's embassy in Panama and the Panamanian government had decided from the outset that the museum should be operated by a private foundation "to ensure the construction of the museum will not be halted because of rotation among political parties."
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