Jan 12, 2007, 6:10 GMT
Taipei - Taiwan on Friday protested China's pressuring of Mexico to bar Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian's plane from Mexican air space on his way from Nicaragua to the United States.
'China was angry because President Chen's trip to Nicaragua was so successful, so it pressured Mexico to bar President Chen's jet from passing through Mexican air space,' the Central News Agency quoted Liu Shih-fang, deputy presidential secretary-general, as saying on the presidential jet.
'China's act is shameless,' she said.
Liu said Taiwan had asked the US to persuade Mexico to withdraw its decision 'because after all President Chen is a guest of the United States,' but Mexico would not cancel it.
Taipei also asked the Nicaraguan foreign minister to talk to his Mexican counterpart to reconsider the decision, but that did not work either, Liu said.
As Chen's chartered plane was flying over Mexico to Los Angeles Thursday, Mexican air traffic controllers ordered the jet to leave Mexican airspace and fly over the open sea to the United States.
The detour delayed Chen's arrival in Los Angeles by about four hours and 37 minutes (arriving at 9 p.m. local time), forcing Chen to cancel a scheduled dinner party with overseas Chinese and meetings with US officials and scholars, Liu said.
Chen flew to Nicaragua in a chartered China Airlines plane to attend Daniel Ortega's inauguration as president Wednesday and to cement diplomatic ties with the Central American country, one of the 24 nations that recognize Taiwan.
China had tried to woo Ortega to drop Taipei and recognize Beijing, but Ortega refused.
Mexico had originally granted passage to Chen's jet which flew over Mexico on its way to Nicaragua. But when Chen's jet was flying back to the United States, Mexico suddenly ordered the jet to leave its air space.
'Apparently it is China's pressure,' Foreign Ministry Spokesman Wang Chien-yeh told reporters in Taipei.
Because of the distance between Taiwan and Nicaragua, Chen's jet had to make stop on both legs of the journey and stopped in the United States. He stayed overnight in San Francisco on his way to Nicaragua and is making a refuelling stop in Los Angeles on his way home.
Both the United States and Mexico have diplomatic ties with China, which sees Taiwan as its breakaway province.
China has barred its allies from making formal contacts with Taiwan, including receiving Taiwanese leaders. China has already protested Washington's granting of transit stops to Chen.
Your Talkback on this Story