Taiwan has severed diplomatic ties with the Commonwealth of Dominica, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday, blaming China for trying to shame President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) after his election victory.
Dominica, a diplomatic ally of 21 years, had established ties with the People's Republic of China (PRC) on March 23.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Eugene Chien (
"The ROC government expressed strong displeasure and regret about the Dominican government's decision to establish diplomatic ties with the PRC under the latter's threats and allurement," said ministry spokesman Richard Shih (石瑞琦).
China's official Xinhua news agency disclosed at 12:10am yesterday that Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing (李肇星) and Dominican Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit signed a joint communique on the establishment of diplomatic ties in Beijing on March 23.
Chien blasted China's snatching away another Taiwanese ally as a deliberate act to shame Chen after he won the presidential election.
"In June 2001, China established diplomatic ties with Macedonia when President Chen was visiting Latin America. In July 2002, China established diplomatic relations with Nauru on the same day President Chen took over the Democratic Progressive Party chairmanship," Chien said.
After Macedonia, Nauru and Liberia, Dominica became the fourth ally Taiwan lost to China during Chen's term. The loss of the Caribbean state, however, sent shockwaves through the ministry, which has long viewed Latin America as a diplomatic stronghold.
Taiwan's relations with Dominica began to deteriorate after Skerrit was appointed prime minister on Jan. 8, two days after former prime minister Pierre Charles died of a heart attack.
Barely a week after Skerrit became prime minister, he asked Taiwan to give US$58 million in aid to his country. The aid package Skerrit demanded far exceeded the original amount Taiwan had agreed to provide for the two countries' cooperation projects, Chien said.
When asked by Taiwanese diplomats to reduce the aid package to a reasonable amount, Skerrit threatened to establish diplomatic ties with China, Chien said.
"In Skerrit's speech to the nation yesterday [Monday], he told his people that China has given the country US$117.5 million in aid," Chien said, adding that Skerrit said the money would be used for construction of public facilities such as hospitals, schools and roads.
"Skerrit, only 32, does not fully understand international politics and harbors undue expectations of China ... Taiwan doesn't want to join a checkbook diplomacy race with China," Chien said.
From January to this month, Taiwanese diplomats had been striving to dissuade Skerrit from building ties with Beijing through senior Dominican officials' help. But the efforts were in vain, Chien said.
Noting Dominica, with a population of around 70,000, has neither strategic nor economic significance to China, Chien said the only purpose of China's work to establish diplomatic ties with the Caribbean state was to achieve its goal of "eliminating the ROC."
"China wants to destroy all our diplomatic ties to virtually wipe out Taiwan's space for existence in the international community. But its behavior would neither help cross-strait relations nor earn the 23 million Taiwanese people's affection," Chien said.
Chen and Premier Yu Shyi-kun were informed of Dominica's move early yesterday morning.
Although Dominica switched diplomatic relations to Beijing, its foreign ministry still sent a congratulatory note on Chen's re-election, Chien said.
At a ministry press conference at 10:30am, Chien, Javier Hou (
Grace Tong (
Hou said that, since February, Taiwanese diplomats have been keeping a close eye on Tong, whose business in Dominica had been suffering. She served as Antigua and Barbuda's representative to China and began working secretly to forge China's ties with Dominica, Hou said.
DEATH THREAT: A MAC official said that it has urged Beijing to avoid creating barriers that would impede exchanges across the Strait, but it continues to do so People should avoid unnecessary travel to China after Beijing issued 22 guidelines allowing its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death “Taiwan independence separatists,” the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday as it raised its travel alert for China, including Hong Kong and Macau, to “orange.” The guidelines published last week “severely threaten the personal safety of Taiwanese traveling to China, Hong Kong and Macau,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) told a news conference in Taipei. “Following a comprehensive assessment, the government considers it necessary to elevate the travel alert to orange from yellow,” Liang said. Beijing has
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday said that the Chinese Communist Party was planning and implementing “major” reforms, ahead of a political conclave that is expected to put economic recovery high on the agenda. Chinese policymakers have struggled to reignite growth since late 2022, when restrictions put in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic were lifted. The world’s second-largest economy is beset by a debt crisis in the property sector, persistently low consumption and high unemployment among young people. Policymakers “are planning and implementing major measures to further deepen reform in a comprehensive manner,” Xi said in a speech at the Great Hall
CIVIL DEFENSE: More reservists in alternative service would help establish a sound civil defense system for use in wartime and during natural disasters, Kuma Academy’s CEO said While a total of 120,000 reservists are expected to be called up for alternative reserve drills this year, compared with the 6,505 drilled last year, the number has been revised to 58,000 due to a postponed training date, Deputy Minster of the Interior Ma Shih-yuan (馬士元) said. In principle, the ministry still aims to call up 120,000 reservists for alternative reserve drills next year, he said, but the actual number would not be decided later until after this year’s evaluation. The increase follows a Legislative Yuan request that the Ministry of the Interior address low recruitment rates, which it made while reviewing
SOLUTIONS NEEDED: Taiwan must attract about 400,000 to 500,000 skilled foreign workers due to population decline, the minister of economic affairs said in Washington President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration is considering a plan to import labor to deal with an impending shortage of engineers and other highly skilled workers, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said in Washington on Tuesday. Kuo was leading a delegation attending the SelectUSA Investment Summit. Taiwan must attract about 400,000 to 500,000 skilled foreign workers for high-end manufacturing jobs by 2040, he said. Ministry of Economic Affairs officials are still calculating the precise number of workers that are needed, as it works on loosening immigration restrictions and creating incentives, Kuo said. Taiwanese firms operating factories in the US and other countries would