Taiwan to shut representative offices in five countries

Jun 6, 2009, 16:16 GMT

Taipei - Taiwan plans to shut its representative offices in five countries which 'do not function well,' and will open two new representative offices, one in Japan and another one in Turkey, an official said Saturday.

The countries where Taiwan will close its representative offices are Bangladesh, Bolivia, Venezuela, South Africa and Panama, Foreign Minister Francisco Ou told the Central News Agency (CNA).

Among the five nations only Panama holds diplomatic ties with Taiwan.

Ou said the reasons for the office shutdowns are the host country's 'unfriendliness,' the impossibility of issuing visas as well as the proximity of these offices to other ones.

For example, Bangladesh has barred Taiwan's representative office, opened in 2004, from openly using its title, banned it from issuing visas, and prohibited its foreign ministry personnel from talking to Taiwan diplomats.

Ou did not give the reason for shutting the offices in Bolivia and Venezuela, but Taiwan newspapers have said that Venezuela's government is hostile to Taiwan and also has refused to extend visas for the staff in the Taiwan representative office.

The reasons for closing the representative office in Johannesburg, South Africa and Colon, Panama are simpler.

Taiwan wants to close its liaison office in Johannesburg because it is too close to the main Taiwanese liaison office in South Africa's capital Pretoria, he said.

A similar case pertains with Panama, where the government has decided to close its consulate-general in Colon, the second-largest city of Panama, because it is too close to Taiwan's embassy in Panama's capital Panama City, Ou said.

Ou said Taiwan wants to use its diplomatic and human resources where they can be put to better use. Taiwan will open a representative office in Sapporo, Japan and in Istanbul, Turkey, he added.

Also, Ou told CNA, Taiwan will stop pushing to open a representative office in Vladivostok, the Far East city of Russia. Russia does not have diplomatic ties with Taiwan.

Taiwan holds diplomatic ties with only 23 countries, but has representative offices in nearly 100 states. Many of these countries do not officially recognize Taipei but do have trade relations.

The representative office of these non-diplomatic allies are in charge of issuing visas and promoting Taipei's trade ties with these countries.