One day after breaking ties with Taiwan to establish relations with China, Costa Rican President Oscar Arias on Thursday accused Taiwan of not offering enough financial aid.
"How can it be that you help the poorest nation in the hemisphere with just US$20 million a year?" Arias said on local Radio Monumental when he recalled conversations at last year's inauguration of Haitian President Rene Preval in which he told Taiwanese officials that they should provide more aid to Haiti.
"You should, if you wanted to help, give them US$200 million a year. That is nothing for you. While the United States gives 0.1 percent of its economic output in foreign aid Taiwan gives not even 0.0001 percent," he recalled telling them at the time.
PHOTO: AP
"I have been critical of Taiwan in the sense that if they have diplomatic relations with fewer than 30 countries, they should be more generous," Arias said.
Although Taiwan has financed some large infrastructure and health projects in Costa Rica in recent years, Arias played down their importance.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) spokesman David Wang (
He added that the remarks were unbecoming of a gentleman.
"But President Arias' remarks proved that Taiwan does not engage in `checkbook diplomacy' unlike China," Wang said.
Wang said Arias' words demonstrated that he had dumped Taiwan and established relations with China mainly for financial aid from Beijing.
"I think the international community and all the people will have their opinions about Costa Rica," Wang said.
Meanwhile, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Katharine Chang (張小月) said yesterday that Taiwan would not establish a representative office in Costa Rica at this point.
Chang made the remarks yesterday morning while giving a report to the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) caucus on the MOFA's reaction to Costa Rica's split with Taiwan.
TSU Legislator Kuo Lin-yung (郭林勇) questioned MOFA officials on how they intended to stop more of Taiwan's allies cutting ties and turning to China because of money.
Chang said that MOFA regretted Costa Rica's decision, but would not get involved in a "money race" with China.
"We are not worried about a `domino effect' either. MOFA has a strategy to combat this," Chang said.
She said the 4,000 Taiwanese nationals in Costa Rica would not be affected by the split.
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “(we) appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
Global bodies should stop excluding Taiwan for political reasons, President William Lai (賴清德) told Pope Francis in a letter, adding that he agrees war has no winners. The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to retain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and Taipei has watched with concern efforts by Beijing and the Holy See to improve ties. In October, the Vatican and China extended an accord on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China for four years, pointing to a new level of trust between the two parties. Lai, writing to the pope in response to the pontiff’s message on Jan. 1’s
MUST REMAIN FREE: A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would lead to a global conflict, and if the nation blows up, the world’s factories would fall in a week, a minister said Taiwan is like Prague in 1938 facing Adolf Hitler; only if Taiwan remains free and democratic would the world be safe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The ministry on Saturday said Corriere della Sera is one of Italy’s oldest and most read newspapers, frequently covers European economic and political issues, and that Wu agreed to an interview with the paper’s senior political analyst Massimo Franco in Taipei on Jan. 3. The interview was published on Jan. 26 with the title “Taiwan like Prague in 1938 with Hitler,” the ministry
RSS