Faced with the ominous rise of China, Taiwan might consider developing its "energy diplomacy" with oil-producing countries in Africa and the Middle East in a bid to counter Beijing's implacable diplomatic strategy, political observers said yesterday.
Under China's relentless diplomatic suppression of Taiwan, dubbed the "three guang" strategy (三光政策), analysts are worried that Beijing may wage another wave of diplomatic warfare in the near future, especially with the planned overseas visit by President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) in May coming hot on the heels of the trip by his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao (胡錦濤), next month.
Beijing's "three guang" strategy refers to Beijing's determination to "take all" of Taiwan's diplomatic allies, "block all" of Taiwan's international channels and "crush all" of Taiwan's international space.
Taiwan currently has 25 diplomatic allies, with 12 in Latin America, six in East Asia and the Pacific, another six in Africa and one in Europe.
Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明), an assistant research fellow in political science at Academia Sinica, said the government might want to consider developing "energy diplomacy" and reaching out to oil-producing countries in Africa and the Middle East.
"Energy will definitely play a significant role in the administration's future diplomatic policy," Hsu said. "We may not be the soldiers fighting in the frontline, but there is certainly much room for us to maneuver." Beijing has recently placed great importance on its "energy politics."
Hu met with his Russian President Vladimir Putin this week, with Putin agreeing to pump natural gas to feed China's booming economy via a new pipeline. Both sides also agreed to jointly explore possible new energy resources, including oil and natural gas.
If Taiwan continues with its traditional diplomatic strategy of only consolidating diplomatic ties with its allies and focusing on Latin America, Hsu said that the cost of countering Beijing's "three guang" diplomacy may become too high.
But if Taiwan reaches out to oil-producing countries who are not its allies, he said, it could also open new doors for the country and help it escape from its cramped diplomatic situation.
An official at the National Security Council, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he did not think that Taiwan should be worried about the China-Russia energy accord, because it is only an "agreement on paper."
"First of all, it takes about five years to complete a gas pipeline. In addition, Russia is still holding off on China's request to lay an oil pipeline to carry Siberian oil to China," he said.
China is a leading buyer of Russian oil. Both Tokyo and Beijing have maneuvered hard for the best route for the 4,100km East Siberian-Pacific pipeline. At the moment, China imports all of its Russian oil via rail.
The official told the Taipei Times that the government has been seeking cooperation with oil-producing countries for several years.
Taiwan has signed an oil exploration agreement with its diplomatic ally Chad, and has sent technicians there.
The government would not pass up an opportunity to cooperate with non-diplomatic allies in the region, the official said.
The official added that the government has been cooperating with other non-allies such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar and Libya.
The UAE was one of the places where Chen made a stopover last October en route back to Taiwan after he concluded a diplomatic tour of various allies in Central America and the Caribbean.
During Chen's visit, Taiwan and the UAE agreed to form a strategic partnership to boost military and trade ties, despite their lack of diplomatic relations.
The two countries are also set to step up their bilateral trade and investment and Taiwan also plans to open a representative office in Abu Dhabi.
The state-run Chinese Petroleum Corp has also sent delegations to the UAE to discuss an oil investment offer. Although it is hard to say when the deal will be sealed, the official said that both sides remain interested in the proposal.
Last year, Taiwan also signed an agreement with Qatar, in which Qatar agreed to provide Taiwan with natural gas at reasonable prices, the official said. Taiwan will in return provide technical training programs to staff from Qatar's petrochemical industry.
As soon as the gas terminal and storage facility here are up and running, the liquefied natural gas will be shipped from Qatar to Taiwan by sea, the official said.
Despite the friendly cooperative relationship with Qatar, the official said that he did not see Chen visiting Qatar in the foreseeable future.
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
Yangmingshan National Park authorities yesterday urged visitors to respect public spaces and obey the law after a couple was caught on a camera livestream having sex at the park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) earlier in the day. The Shilin Police Precinct in Taipei said it has identified a suspect and his vehicle registration number, and would summon him for questioning. The case would be handled in accordance with public indecency charges, it added. The couple entered the park at about 11pm on Thursday and began fooling around by 1am yesterday, the police said, adding that the two were unaware of the park’s all-day live
RSS