Taiwan welcomes allies developing relations with China: president

President Ma Ying-jeou said Friday that Taiwan will be pleased to see Taiwan's allies developing substantive relations with China, just as Taiwan would like to do the same with China's allies, according to reports monitored by the Daily Observer.

Ma made the remarks during a meeting with Honduras President Manuel Zelaya aboard a charter flight they took along with Guatemalan Vice President Rafael Espada from Paraguay to the Dominican Republic after attending the inauguration of Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo.

In response to a question from Zelaya on how Taiwan's solid allies should react to the fact that relations between Taiwan and China have significantly improved, Ma vowed that nothing will change these longstanding friendships.

"The idea of 'diplomatic reconciliation and diplomatic truce' that I have proposed is aimed at improving cross-Taiwan Strait relations, " Ma was quoted as saying by Presidential Office spokesman Wang Yu-chi. "As for our allies who have supported us all this time, we will only consolidate bilateral friendships even more," he said. "If our allies would like to develop substantive relations, such as economic or cultural relations, with China, Taiwan will be pleased to see that as well, just as Taiwan would like to do the same with China's allies," he added.

The frosty relations between Taiwan and China have been thawing since Ma took office May 20, and his proposal of a "diplomatic truce" is aimed at terminating the longstanding diplomatic tug-of-war with China in which both countries try to lure each other's allies to switch diplomatic allegiance by offering large sums of money in foreign aid to developing countries.

Ma also touted the strategy of "modus vivendi" or "pragmatic diplomacy," designed to leverage more international space for Taiwan. He said the improved cross-strait relations have been well-received by the United States, Taiwan's allies and other countries in the region. "Diplomatic truce is a strategy that serves multilateral interests, as not only relations between Taiwan and China are improved but relations between Taiwan and the U.S. are also improved," Ma stated. "Allies of both Taiwan and China will all benefit from improved cross-strait relations," he added.

Wang said Ma and Zelaya had a 20-minute discussion in which they also promised to strengthen bilateral cooperation.
He told reporters that the arrangement for Zelaya and Espada to take the charter flight was made before Ma left Taiwan for his first state visit after assuming office. Ma is scheduled to attend the inauguration of President Leonel Fernandez to a new term in office Aug. 16. He will return to Taiwan Aug. 19.