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.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A magnitude 4.9 earthquake struck off Tainan at 11:47am today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 32.3km northeast of Tainan City Hall at a depth of 7.3km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Tainan and Chiayi County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and County, and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Kaohsiung, Nantou County, Changhua County, Taitung County and offshore Penghu County, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated