Taiwan-PNG Scandal A 'Spectacular Diplomatic Setback'
(Taiwan News Online)
Taiwan's botched effort in 2006 to get Papua New Guinea to switch diplomatic recognition from Beijing to Taipei is a "spectacular diplomatic setback" rather than a "corruption scandal," says Taiwan News Online in an editorial commentary.
"We believe that repeated mutually contradictory statements by detained middleman and suspected swindler Wu Ssu-tsai combined with serious judicial investigation will clarify the nature of the affair as a massive diplomatic error and show that (ex-vice premier) Chiou (I-jen) and the other officials are innocent of 'corruption' even if palpably guilty of bad judgment and even stupidity," says Taiwan News Online of the continuing scandal in Taipei.
The blunder was really an attempt to strengthen Taiwan's role in the Suva-based Pacific Islands Forum, the editorial says. "The significance of this diplomatic failure is best understood not by obsession with alleged 'scandals' or a focus on the PNG alone but with reference to the wider context of Taiwan's efforts to consolidate a cluster of comprehensive partnerships in the Pacific and expand the scope of this community in order to gain strategic influence and direct participation in the 14-nation Pacific Island Forum," it says.
The editorial says Taiwan's "Pacific Allies Summits," which were held in Palau and the Marshall Islands, "marked Taiwan's shift from a focus on defensive bilateral ties to a more proactive and comprehensive multilateral approach aimed at improving governance, grassroots health and education and economic development in the context of building a 'democratic community' in implicit cooperation with the PIF's long-term 'Pacific Plan.'"
The Taiwan News Online editorial concludes: "However, Taiwan only needs one or at most two more diplomatic allies to gain sufficient support within the PIF to upgrade its status into at least a full 'dialogue partner' on an equal footing with the United States, Canada and the PRC itself or even direct membership. Official affiliation with the PIF would have marked a huge strategic advance for Taiwan's international status and a major step in counteracting the PRC's global 'full court press.' The loss of this opportunity is far more tragic than the misplacement of US$30 million."
http://www.taiwannews.com.tw/etn/news_content.php?id=653185&lang=eng_news&cate_img=46.jpg&cate_rss=news_Editorial
