Taiwan launches new diplomatic offensive

Sources in the Chen administration said they viewed pushing for closer ties with South East Asian countries as a new strategy that could counter the island’s isolation in the international community.

Reports said a delegation lead by Presidential Office Secretary-General Su Tseng-chang arrived in Manila last Friday while Singapore Deputy Premier Lee Hsien Loong is currently in Taiwan on an unofficial visit.

President Chen Shui-bian,Premier Yu Shyi-kun, and Legislative Yuan Speaker Wang Jin-pyng are also expected to visit several of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies in the next few months, sources told the semi-official Central News Agency (CNA).

Taiwan is seeking further opportunities to cooperate with its neighbors, such as Singapore and the Philippines, the sources, unnamed government officials from the Executive Yuan and Presidential Office, said.

Taiwan hopes to cooperate with Singapore on issues such as free trade, regional security and the fight against international terrorism.

Talks with the Philippines, however, will focus more on investment and labor issues.

The news of Su’s visit to the Philippines was first reported by a Chinese-language daily in Manila, the Commercial News.

Government sources yesterday denied parts of this report, saying Su was not in Manila to arrange for President Chen to visit the Philippines, as the paper claimed.

The purpose of Su’s visit was to congratulate Philippines President Gloria Arroyo Macapagal on her recent re-election and express Taiwan’s goodwill.

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One of the few people to speak on record about these issues, former DPP chairman Yao Chia-wen, said Taiwan is planning to strengthen relations with South East Asian countries, although he declined to comment directly on Su’s trip.

Yao, who is also president of the Examination Yuan, said President Chen had wanted to improve the international community’s understanding of Taiwan since his May inauguration.

Local media also quoted sources as saying President Chen felt his leadership had become more consolidated after his re-election in March and he wanted his administration to pay more attention to diplomacy.

Yao said the four areas of greatest diplomatic importance to Taiwan were the U.S., Europe, North East Asia and South East Asia.

Taiwan paid too much attention to ties with the U.S. in the past, Yao said, and currently the Chen administration viewed American relations as stable and unlikely to change much in the future.

However, the Chen administration believed there were still many opportunities for the island to develop all kinds of foreign relations with the three other regions, Yao said.

Yao said many foreign nations which hold close ties with Taiwan had no understanding of the controversies associated with President Chen’s March 20 election win.

The DPP heavyweight said he met many officials from the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) and academics from think tanks on a recent visit to the U.S. and found they were unaware of Taiwan’s election procedures and did not understand the DPP’s election campaign.

Yao said the Chen administration had been continuously stepping up official and non-official ties with other countries since President Chen’s second election win but the public was not aware of its efforts as diplomacy of this nature could not be made public.

Taiwan’s South East Asian diplomatic push would be on many levels and would not just involve investment, Yao said.

Taiwan also wanted to step up cooperation on issues of regional security in the South China Sea, strengthen educational and cultural ties with South East Asian nations and offer them aid, Yao said.

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