Thursday, August 10, 2006

TAIWAN SHOULD INCREASE ITS DIPLOMACY BUDGET: ACADEMICS

Taipei, Aug. 8 (CNA) Taiwan's government should increase its diplomacy budget to counter China's relentless oppression in the international community, academics said in a seminar Tuesday.

China has been pouring money in every imaginable way into Africa, South America and the South Pacific since its economic rise, said Michel Lu, spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) . And one of its main objectives is to win over Taiwan's allies in those regions, he added.

The number of Taiwan's allies went from 29 in 2000 -- when the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) became the ruling party -- down to the present 24. The five countries were won over by more aid and financial promises from China, and switched diplomatic recognition.

With a NT$28 billion diplomacy budget, which accounts for less than one percent of the NT$320 billion gross domestic product (GDP), it's difficult for Taiwan to counter China's influence, Lu said, adding that only half the budget -- NT$14 billion -- is designated for international aid expenditures.

"I think Taiwan should increase its diplomacy budget. A diplomacy budget under one percent of the nation's GDP, especially in Taiwan's case, is unfathomable," said Lin Cheng-yi, a research fellow specializing in European and American studies at Academia Sinica, Taiwan's top research institution.

The seminar was organized by Taiwan Thinktank to dicuss Taiwan's foreign relations after diplomatic ties were severed Sunday with the central African country of Chad. Taiwan cut off diplomatic ties with Chad on Aug. 6 after learning the African nation was ready to switch diplomatic recognition to Beijing.