The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday criticized Taiwan People’s Party Chairman and presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential candidate, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜), over their comments about Taiwan’s diplomacy at the presidential platform presentations on Thursday evening.
Leading up to the nation’s presidential and legislative elections on Jan. 13, the final of three presidential platform presentations was held in Taipei on Thursday.
After receiving criticism for his remark that it would be acceptable for Taiwan to have no diplomatic allies, Ko said at the presentation that he would “actively consolidate relations with existing diplomatic allies.”
Photo: Taipei Times
Taiwan must adopt a pragmatic diplomatic policy to maintain its allies and should not return to the “dollar diplomacy of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) governemnt and past KMT administrations,” he said.
Ko advocated for development assistance focusing on technology cooperation, adding that the foreign aid budget could be increased as needed.
The ministry yesterday in a press release said that Ko’s comment was contrary to current practice, as “dollar diplomacy” had long been abandoned by the government.
The remark was untrue and “deeply regrettable,” the ministry said, calling on Taiwanese to support Taiwan’s efforts in providing assistance to countries in need, which could help demonstrate that Taiwan is indispensable to international development and promote the nation’s image as a force for good in the world.
The promulgation of the International Cooperation and Development Act (國際合作發展法) in 2010 has made Taiwan’s foreign aid more transparent, the ministry said.
The budgets of all foreign aid programs are approved by the Legislative Yuan and all of their processes and outcomes are made public in accordance with the act, the ministry said.
Acting on the principles of steadfast diplomacy and mutual assistance for mutual benefit, Taiwan has assisted its diplomatic allies in their development and worked with like-minded countries to give back to the international community — a uniquely “Taiwan model,” it said.
Meanwhile, Hou said at the presentation that negotiations of multilateral and bilateral economic and trade agreements have stalled in recent years.
In comparison with previous KMT governments, which signed the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement with China and other free-trade agreements, the DPP “has failed in its economic performance,” he said.
The ministry said that it has been working with economic agencies to push Taiwan’s bid to join international economic and trade integration mechanisms, as well as strive to strengthen substantive economic and trade cooperation with major trading partners.
However, these efforts have been maliciously obstructed by China, it said.
The KMT in 2008 began negotiations to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which has evolved into the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, and in 2012 for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, both unsuccessfully, it said.
The examples showed that Beijing has no intention of helping Taiwan join regional economic integration, but has continuously aimed to suppress Taiwan’s international space, it said.
Taiwan should rely on its own strengths to pursue regional integration, it said.
The US and European countries recognize the crucial role Taiwan plays in the global supply chain as they re-examine the risks of trading with China, which has shown greater ambitions toward expanding its authoritarian power in the past few years, it said.
The ministry called on all parties to work together to continue enhancing substantive cooperation with like-minded countries.
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