Nauruan President Ludwig Scotty is scheduled to arrive in Taiwan on Monday for a six-day state visit at the invitation of President Chen Shui-bian (
It will mark Scotty's first visit to Taiwan since the two countries resumed formal diplomatic relations in May last year. Scotty and Taiwan's then foreign affairs minister Mark Chen (陳唐山) signed a joint communique in Taipei re-establishing diplomatic relations between the two countries on May 14 last year after a hiatus of almost three years.
Nauru is also the nation's only diplomatic ally that Chen has not toured during his nearly six-year stint as president.
At the head of a Nauruan entourage, which will include Minister of Foreign Affairs and Finance David Adeang, Scotty is expected to exchange views with Chen on the international situation, matters of mutual concern and joint ventures, ministry officials said.
Chen will host a state banquet in Kaohsiung in honor of Scotty and the Nauruan officials.
The Nauruan visitors are also scheduled to tour government-sponsored vocational training centers and agricultural development projects in the south.
Scotty was strongly opposed to former Nauruan president Rene Harris' decision to sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan and switch recognition to China in 2002.
During his last visit to Taipei, Scotty said that Harris' decision to establish diplomatic ties with China was made in the absence of parliamentary authorization and that many people in Nauru believed Harris was yielding to Chinese "checkbook diplomacy."
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