ANALYSIS: Some Taiwan allies unhappy about diplomatic truce

By David Chang Jul 6, 2009, 12:56 GMT

   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.