Taipei not opposed to dual recognition

Taiwan would not rule out the possibility that Grenada could recognize both Taiwan and China, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said yesterday.

The spokesman, Michel Lu, said the government would not give up any possibility, including dual recognition by the Caribbean ally, which has established diplomatic ties with China.

Grenada has yet to formally announce the end of its diplomatic ties with Taiwan after the Caribbean state reportedly switched recognition to China.

Grenada’s prime minister, Keith Mitchell, originally was said to be holding a press conference announcing the diplomatic switch yesterday, but it was postponed.

Lu said Mitchell now would not publicly explain the situation until his foreign minister returns to Grenada from an overseas trip on Monday.

Lu’s ministry has condemned Grenada for using China as a bargaining chip to demand more financial aid from Taiwan. Lu has revealed that the Caribbean state has requested US$245 million in aid for a five-year period.

Meanwhile, Vice President Annette Lu blasted China for going to extremes in every instance to isolate Taiwan from the international community, saying that its actions are unacceptable to the international community.

Lu was responding to reports that Grenada has signed a joint communique with Beijing to resume diplomatic ties with China.

While meeting with Victor Manuel Sanchez Pena, the new Dominican Republic ambassador to Taiwan, the vice president said that Beijing has always tried to tempt political leaders of Taipei’s diplomatic allies with large sums of money to forge diplomatic ties with China.

She said that the diplomatic policy of the new government led by President Chen Shui-bian is different from that of the former government.

She said the Chen administration attaches great importance to the principles of equality and national dignity while the former government paid much attention to the number of the nation’s diplomatic allies and always made great concessions for the purpose of maintaining bilateral relations.

Stressing that the Chen administration cherishes the traditional friendship that is maintained with all its diplomatic allies, Lu called on the leaders of these ROC allies not to play Beijing against Taipei in a bid to make a profit out of the competition between Taiwan and the mainland.

Touching on Taiwan’s relations with Central and South American states, Lu said that the government has worked out a set of projects aimed at promoting bilateral cooperation and substantive exchanges with Taiwan’s diplomatic allies in that region.

The vice president also disclosed that she is working actively to push for a “new town building program,” under which Taiwan will help its Latin American diplomatic allies carry out various development projects in the fields of agriculture, fishery, energy and infrastructure.

In addition, the government has launched the Taiwan Scholarship Program for students from the nation’s diplomatic allies to study in Taiwan, Lu went on.

During the meeting, Lu also said that Taiwan is willing to cooperate with the Dominican Republic in carrying out a farm development plan in that Caribbean state.

For his part, Sanchez said that Lu is welcome to make an official visit to his country to discuss details of the cooperation plan with relevant authorities.

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