Taiwan’s diplomatic allies have come up with several new cooperative projects that need financial support, but the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has rejected nearly all of them due to budget shortfalls, according to sources at the government-funded International Cooperation and Development Fund, known as Taiwan ICDF.
Two of those rejected development aid projects were proposed by diplomatic allies in Central and South America, the sources said.
According to Taiwan ICDF records, Taiwan’s cooperative programs with diplomatic allies cover a variety of fields.
For instance, an orchid plantation program was launched in cooperation with a Latin American country, which required more than NT$10 million (US$337,500) annually over a 10-year period. However, the program turned out to be a flop, as it only benefitted 23 farmers.
A 10-year bamboo handicraft development program in another country cost around NT$100 million and benefited only about a dozen farmers there.
Taiwan began to assist the West African country of the Gambia in vegetable and fruit plantation in 1996, but only 3.6 hectares of farmland has since been developed, benefiting just 90 farmers. More than US$1 million was pumped into the project in the past three years alone. It was eventually terminated after the Gambia decided to sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan last month.
Taiwan ICDF secretary-general Tao Wen-lung (陶文隆) said many previous aid programs focused on building “Taiwan farms” in Latin American or Caribbean countries.
“Those projects tend to have limited effects and beneficiaries, with production value falling short of 0.1 percent of those countries’ annual agricultural production,” Tao said.
While acknowledging that some aid programs had been closed because of inefficiency or becoming obsolete, Tao said most aid programs are ended only after achieving their original goals.
At the beginning of this year, Taiwan still operated 74 foreign aid programs, but the number will drop to 50 by the end of the year, he said.
Taiwan ICDF has received various development aid applications or technological cooperation proposals, but they have been rejected mostly out of budget considerations, he added.
Among them was a US$30 million plan to establish a satellite image transmission system proposed by a diplomatic ally.
As of the end of last month, 32 Taiwan ICDF officials stationed abroad had returned home due to the end of development aid programs. Twenty-four of them will be reassigned to work in other countries and the remaining eight are to be laid off with their consent, officials say.
Eight more technicians are scheduled to return by the end of this month, when their aid programs conclude.
Ministry officials said recently that despite the termination of diplomatic ties with the Gambia, the government’s three key principles in offering development aid to Taiwan’s diplomatic allies — legitimate goals, legal procedures and effective execution — have remained unchanged.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS