“It s a major concern that funding levels during 2008 and 2009 have diminished markedly, said a briefing paper prepared for the 17th Taiwan Forum Countries Dialogue in Cairns last week.
“The reduction in funding has created gaps not easy to replace.”
Heads of the six Forum Island Countries that have diplomatic relations with Taiwan urged Taipei to address their concerns.
“This needs addressing urgently as it is important for the region to know the direction and quantum of assistance that Taiwan will provide in future years. If there is going to be continuing reduction, then efforts will have to be made to secure the resources required to support these high impact initiatives from other partners,” said the briefing paper.
In response, Taiwan’s head of delegation, Andrew Hsia said his country remains committed to supporting not just its allies, but all Forum Island Countries.
For 2010, Taipei has committed $500,000 to support work programs of regional organizations. This is slightly more than last year’s $406,000 contribution.
“We want better aid co-ordination between us and the regional agencies. We want a report from agencies on the effective use of our funds, said Hsia.
This, he said was part of moves by President Ma Ying-jeou’s administration to make transparent its overseas aid.
This follows the arrest of former Taiwanese president, Chen Shui-bian for the alleged illegal use of ‘special leadership fund’ during his eight years in power.
“President Ma wants to get rid of the cheque book diplomacy label. Some of the approaches we took in the past may have not been appropriate. We have a foreign aid white paper which dictates that any projects with recipient countries must be transparent and guided by the Paris Declaration,” explained Hsia.
Over the 15 year period, from 1999 to 2009, Taiwan has provided just over $11.5 million to the region through regional organizations. Of this, the Secretariat of the Pacific Community received 30 percent of the funding amounting to $3.4 million for the implementation of 111 projects.
Despite the reduction in aid, the six allies of Taiwan — Kiribati, Nauru, Palau, Republic of Marshall Islands, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu — have pledged their support for a formal recognition of Taiwan in the full Forum process.
Nauru President Marcus Stephens said the issue has been discussed and will be further deliberated at the Taiwan/Pacific Leaders Summit in Solomon Islands in October this year.
“Taiwan has a place in the Pacific Islands Forum meeting. It has contributed so much in the last 20 years. They deserve to be part of the forum wither as a full dialogue partner of observer,” Stephens.
In response, Hsia said, “We have been asking this for many years. So far we seem to be talking to deaf ears. We look forward to the day to be invited to the plenary and not hold a separate dialogue.”
Leaders of the six Forum nations have also agreed to support Taiwan’s request to take part in international climate change negotiations in Copenhagen in December.
