Taipei - Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou is satisfied with
the Taiwan-China diplomatic truce because Taipei and Beijing can
drop dollar diplomacy and improve ties, but some of the island's 23
allies may not be happy.
On Friday, when Ma flew to Nicaragua, President Daniel Ortega was
not at the airport to meet him and did not show up at a state
luncheon he was supposed to host.
It was the second time Ortega has snubbed Ma in a month.
When Ma visited El Salvador on June 1 for President-elect Mauricio
Funes' inauguration, Ortega failed to show up for his meeting with
Ma, forcing Ma to postpone the meeting twice and finally cancel it.
So on Friday night, Taiwan's foreign minister Francisco Ou lodged
a protest with his Nicaraguan counterpart to demand Ortega apologize
for his breach of diplomatic code, or Taipei would suspend aid.
Ortega visited Ma's hotel Saturday to apologize for skipping the
luncheon, saying he was tied up with talks with exiled Honduran
president Manuel Zelaya and monitoring Honduran troop movements near
the common border.
Ortega then drove Ma to two functions before seeing Ma off at the
Managua airport.
The main purpose of Ma's Central American trip was to attend the
July 1 inauguration of Panama's President Ricardo Martinelli. He
also planned to visit Honduras - a Taiwan ally - but cancelled that
leg following the Honduras coup.
Some Taiwan lawmakers blasted Ortega for his rude behavior,
suggesting Taiwan recall its ambassador or downgrade its diplomatic
ties with Nicaragua, but others objected, saying Taipei has no
bargaining chips.
Opposition lawmaker Chuang Shuo-han criticized Ma for declaring
before his departure that there would be no dollar diplomacy on his
Latin American trip, which has insulted some allies as if they only
want money from Taipei.
The Liberty Times echoed Chuang's remark, saying Taiwan should not
humiliate its allies, even if it does not want to use money to
preserve ties.
Ma's trip to Panama seemed smooth, but Panama also asked for aid.
Martinelli asked Ma to help Panama build a rapid mass-transit
system. Ma agreed only to offer technology assistance.
Yen Chen-sheng, a researcher at National Chengchih University's
Institute of International Relations, said Ortega was busy with the
Honduras crisis and the funeral of the Managua mayor who committed
suicide.
But his behavior reflects Taiwan allies' frustration that they can
no longer manipulate Taiwan.
'Ortega might also be protesting against both Taipei and Beijing,
because due to the diplomatic truce, Nicaragua can no longer get huge
aid from Taiwan. And it cannot seek aid from China as Beijing would
not accept Nicaragua's recognition,' he said.
'Among Taiwan's 23 allies, there is only one country which does
not need aid from Taipei - the Vatican. The other 23 countries all
need aid but Taiwan does not have to grant all their demands,' Yen
said.
Yen refused to predict how long the diplomatic truce can last.
'For the time being, China sees developing ties with Taiwan as more
important than winning over Taiwan's allies.'
Taiwan and China, split since the end of the Chinese Civil War in
1949, used to fight a fierce diplomatic battle to win over over each
other's allies.
That benefited small and poor countries, some of which used their
diplomatic recognition to squeeze money out of Beijing and Taipei.
Some countries have switched alliance back and forth several
times, depending on which of the two gave more cash and other aid.
After Ma took office on May 20, 2008, he proposed Taipei and
Beijing adopt a diplomatic truce to improve ties and stop wasting
money on stealing each other's allies.
China has not openly commented on it, but has stopped accepting
offers of recognition from Taiwan's allies.
According to the United Daily News, some of Taiwan's African
allies sought aid from China when Chinese Foreign Minister Yang
Jiechi visited Africa in January, but were turned down.
Taiwanese media said that late last year, at least two of Taipei's
Latin American allies approached China, offering to recognize Beijing
in exchange for aid. They were also turned them down.
One of them was Paraguay, which sought 70 million US dollars from
Beijing, the News quoted an unnamed Taiwan official as saying.
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