Taiwan's President Says
Confident Nicaragua Will
Back Its Bid For UN Seat
The Associated Press -
Taiwan's president
expressed confidence
that Nicaragua will back
its bid for a seat at
the United Nations.
Taiwanese President Chen
Shui-bian said Tuesday
he received a promise of
support from Nicaraguan
President Daniel Ortega
during a private
meeting.
"We really trust
(Ortega's) word," Chen
said during a meeting
with foreign
journalists. "Not just
what he says in public,
but also in private, he
has promised that this
is the way it is going
to be."
Taiwan was expelled from
the U.N. in 1971, when
the seat it held under
the name of Republic of
China was transferred to
the Beijing-based
government of People's
Republic of China. It
has made annual attempts
to rejoin since 1993 and
is using its name of
Taiwan for the first
time for its membership
application this year.
Ortega said he would
decide whether to
support Taiwan's bid for
a U.N. seat after Chen
holds a nationwide
referendum on the
subject.
Chen also said he liked
Ortega's idea to
recognize both China and
Taiwan, adding that the
president would be
worthy of the Nobel
Peace Prize if he could
pull off what no other
country has.
Ortega — an ally of
mainland China's
communist government as
head of Nicaragua's
leftist Sandinista
government during the
1980s — assured Chen on
Monday night that he
would try to establish
relations with the
People's Republic of
China, "but not if it
depended on severing
ties with Taiwan."
Taiwan and China split
amid civil war in 1949.
China continues to claim
the self-governing
island as part of its
territory, and has
threatened to use force
if Taiwan moves to
formalize its de facto
independence.
Washington has
repeatedly warned Taiwan
against making
unilateral moves to
change the fragile
status quo in the Taiwan
Strait, fearing a war
with China could soon
involve the U.S.
On March 14, Ortega's
administration abstained
from voting on Taiwan's
bid to join the World
Health Organization, to
which China belongs.
During his visit, Chen
promised a broad aid
package for Nicaragua —
one of 24 countries,
most small, whose
relations Taiwan counts
on to maintain its
recognition as an
independent state.
Both China and Taiwan
routinely offer generous
grants, loans and
investments in the
diplomatic battle.
Ortega is one of the
free-market island's
most unusual, if
newfound allies. He led
a Marxist government in
the 1980s that had
relations with Beijing —
ties that conservative
governments of the 1990s
shifted to Taiwan.
Since retaking office,
Ortega has joined a bloc
led by the socialist
governments of Cuba and
Venezuela.
Chen also said Tuesday
that Taiwan and
Nicaragua are going to
try to speed up a
free-trade agreement
between the two
countries.
Chen, who visited
several areas of
Nicaragua in Ortega's
Mercedes Benz sport
utility vehicle,
insisted such
ideological differences
pose no problems.
"We had such deep
conversations. ... It
was as if we were in
love," he quipped.
"It didn't just seem
that way," Ortega
countered. "We are in
love — with justice,
work and peace." |
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