Taiwan fetes African allies despite Chinese protest

Taiwan and its five diplomatic allies in Africa met on Sunday to discuss new aid requests for the impoverished visiting nations and shore up overall ties, as China slammed the meeting as a political ploy.

Heads of state from Burkina Faso, Gambia, Malawi, Swaziland and Sao Tome and Principe met Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian and other senior leaders from relatively well-off Taiwan to discuss aid related to poverty relief, education, health care and Internet access.

"Of course we're asking for aid," said Thengo Maloya, Malawi's ambassador to Taiwan. "The needs are great."

Health was a key agenda item, with Taiwan giving AIDS-racked Swaziland special medical attention.

The aid requests have exceeded what Taiwan's foreign ministry assistance programme can pay for, a programme official said.

But in Beijing on Saturday, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said the Taiwan meeting was not motivated by altruism.

"The real purpose in hosting the 'Taiwan Africa Summit' is not to support African development, nor for the benefit of the Taiwanese people, but for the private interests of individual persons and political parties, attempting to conduct 'Taiwan Independence' splittist activities, further intensify its dollar diplomacy, and undermine Sino-African friendship," Jiang said.

China has seen self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory rather than as a separate country since the two split after civil war in 1949. Today China seeks to isolate Taiwan diplomatically by taking away its diplomatic allies.

So the two sides compete for diplomatic partnerships by giving investment aid to poor nations, which must choose either China or Taiwan.

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Thirsty for oil and raw materials, China has zoomed in on Africa's mineral wealth, building on a legacy of goodwill from its support of independence movements in the 1960s and 1970s. Its trade with Africa is forecast to soar to $100 billion by 2010, from $6 billion in 2000.

Taiwan has 24 diplomatic allies around the world, mostly small impoverished nations, compared to China's roughly 170.

Despite mounting pressure on aid-dependent Malawi over a budget crisis and questions about the Swazi king's purchases of fancy cars while the population struggles with poverty, Taiwan Foreign Minister James Huang said his government would stay out of the internal affairs of these two nations.

"Every country has its own situation," Huang said at a press conference. "We respect every country's political system."

Specific aid deals are kept secret.

The five African nations also voiced support in a final summit declaration for Taiwan's application to join the United Nations, a request that China has blocked for the past 14 years.

Taiwan again stands no chance of admission this year, but political analysts say the application -- and the summit as a whole -- play well at home for a ruling party trying to push the issue of Taiwan sovereignty ahead of tough 2008 elections.

"It's for political considerations, for Chen to show the public that he can still get this kind of audience," said George Tsai, a Chinese Culture University politics instructor in Taipei. (Additional reporting by Lucy Hornby in Beijing)