Taiwan minister visits Africa to "save island's remaining diplomatic ties"
The Foreign Affairs Minister of Taipei is visiting six African states that recognize Taiwan's independence from China. The trip is a bid to counter Beijing increasingly aggressive policy in the African continent.
Ouagadougou (AsiaNews/SCMP) Taiwan "is doing all it can to preserve diplomatic ties with the last six countries in Africa that recognize its independence" to "counter the new diplomatic policy of Beijing that is trying to chase the island out of the continent", said Taiwan's Foreign Affairs Minister. James Huang Chih-fang was speaking during a trip across Swaziland, Malawi, Sao Tomè and Principe, Gambia, Chad and Burkina Faso.
"The point is that we have only 25 countries that diplomatically recognise Taiwan, and six of the 25 are in Africa," he said from Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso. "So for us, each diplomatic ally is like a baby. We pay a lot of attention."
Right now, Beijing has formal diplomatic relations with 47 out of 53 African countries: this is the outcome of a cynical policy of highly advantageous economic agreements pledged by the government of mainland China to states that break off formal ties with the island, considered by Beijing as a rebel province. The latest country to break off ties with Taipei was Senegal, which ended 10 years of friendship in October.
Huang said Taiwan "has a different approach in nurturing its relations in the world's poorest continent. We are not a big power politically and we prefer co-operation projects suited to the needs of Africans."
Among other moves, on this African trip, the minister signed an agreement with Malawi for the construction of a new road in an isolated corner in the north-east of this small Southern African state.
Huang said: "If you look at what China has done recently in Africa, they are trying by every means to get hold of raw materials and oil in Africa. At the same time, they are dumping cheap industrial products into almost every African country."
While Beijing insists on exclusive recognition, Taiwan has often said it is "happy" to have relations with states that maintained diplomatic ties with China.
In May, President Chen Shui-bian irritated Beijing by making a surprise stopover in Libya, where he met family members of leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.
Huang said Taiwan was considering the possibility of establishing "some kind of representative presence in Libya".
.png)
20/09/2006
