Foreign Minister vows to cement ties with Central American allies

Taipei, May 21 (UNI) Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) will pull out all the stops to consolidate the country's diplomatic relations with its allies in Central America, Minister of Foreign Affairs James Huang said today.

Huang made the remarks amid reports of concern about a possible ''wave of diplomatic defection to China'' or ''switch of diplomatic allegiance to China'' of Taiwan's allies in the region.

Admittedly, Huang said, Taiwan faces tough challenges on its diplomatic front due to China's perennial efforts to lure away its diplomatic allies and block its presence in world arena.

Nevertheless, he said a so-called ''wave of defection'' or ''exodus'' of Central American diplomatic allies to China after May 20 is speculative and far from truth reports Central News Agency 8 Taiwan (CNA).

Huang will head for Belize today to meet with his counterparts from Central American countries that maintain diplomatic relations with the Republic of China on Taiwan. The meeting is a regular annual event which takes place alternately in Taiwan and one of its allies in the region.

This year's meeting is drawing more attention as it is overshadowed by another setback for Taipei in its bid for participation in the World Health Organization (WHO).

In a May 14 vote in Geneva, two of its Central American allies -- Panama and Nicaragua -- were absent during the voting and another -- Costa Rica -- unexpectedly voted against the bid.

The MOFA already filed a protest to Costa Rica through diplomatic channel over the incident. Media reports said whether Costa Rican Foreign Minister Bruno Stagno attends the May 25 meeting in Belize between Taiwan's foreign minister and his Central American counterparts would become the ''index'' measuring the state of bilateral ties.

The reports also speculated that if Costa Rica were to switch its diplomatic allegiance from Taipei to Beijing, it might have a so-called ''domino effect, ''triggering an ''exodus'' or ''wave of defection'' to China of Taiwan's diplomatic allies in the region.

On the eve of his departure for Belize, Huang said such speculation is meaningless and could mislead local people into misperception of the country's diplomatic prospects.

During his forthcoming trip to Belize, Huang said he will also preside over a working meeting of Taiwan's diplomatic mission chiefs in the region to discuss viable strategies to retain its diplomatic allies in the face of China's growing economic and political clout in the world community.

''We'll have a brainstorming session to work out strategies to counter China's efforts to cut the ground from under our feet,'' Huang said.

According to Huang, the Costa Rican and Panamanian foreign minister will not attend the ROC-Central American foreign ministers meeting in person because of their busy schedule and will instead be represented by their deputies. It remains uncertain whether the Nicaraguan foreign minister will personally attend the meeting, Huang added.

UNI