AP News, July 7th, 2007
Taiwan is considering writing off or reducing the debts it is owed by some of its most impoverished diplomatic allies, an official said Saturday, as the island seeks to strengthen its diplomatic position in Africa and Latin America.
Taiwan and rival China split amid civil war in 1949 and have long grappled for diplomatic recognition around the world, with both sides routinely offering generous grants or other financial incentives to poor nations.
Taiwanese authorities are "seriously studying" a debt reduction plan based on humanitarian concerns for the island's poorer allies, said Roy Wu, a Foreign Ministry spokesman.
"Forgiving foreign debts is an international trend," Wu said. "A few of our allies are suffering from poor economic development, and we ought to reach out to them."
In drawing up the plan, Taiwan will consider an ally's credit worthiness, its ability to repay debts and "the state of its relationship with us," Wu said.
He declined to name the countries that could be included in the plan, or to confirm local media reports that President Chen Shui-bian might announce the plan when he visits Taiwan's Central American allies next month.
Communist China, with its rising economic and political clout, has mounted an offensive to lure away self-governed, democratic Taiwan's remaining allies. The effort paid off again last month when Costa Rica switched its diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing.
In recent years China has reached deals with more than 20 poor African countries to write off their debts.
Taiwan is now recognized by only 24 countries _ mostly small, impoverished nations in Africa and Central or South America.
