Taiwan denies plane donated to Panama is for presidential use

Dec 28, 2009, 7:06 GMT

Taipei - Taiwan on Monday insisted that an aircraft it donated to Panama was for emergency rescue and denied reports that was to be used as a presidential jet.

On Sunday, Panama daily newspaper Le Prensa said Taiwan had donated the Embraer Legacy 600 executive jet to President Ricardo Martinelli in exchange for Panama's maintaining diplomatic ties with Taiwan.

'The donation of the plane is part of our cooperation programme. It is based on humanitarian needs and is to be used for inspecting disaster areas and for emergency rescue, so it is not chequebook diplomacy as reported by Panama's press,' Foreign Minister Timothy Yang told reporters.

'The donation of the plane was discussed long time ago in our cooperation programme. They made the request and we found it met our requirements, so we donated it. After the donation, whether it was used the way they said it would be used, we cannot check it,' he said.

Yang said Taiwan provided the plane because most of Panama's fleet is outdated and last May, a 40-year-old Panamanian National Air Service helicopter crashed into a building in Panama City, killing 11 people, he added.

The aircraft valued at 27.5 million US dollars has a capacity for 16 passengers and a range of 5,650 kilometres, Taiwan's ambassador to Panama Simon Ko said Wednesday.

Panama is one of the 23 countries which recognize Taiwan. Some of Taiwan's allies reportedly want to switch recognition from Taiwan to Beijing to benefit from China's emergence as a world power.