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Limited scale of aid
‘not in the Gambia’s interest’
By Shih Hsiu-chuan / Staff reporter
The messages brought back by the country’s last ambassador to the Gambia Samuel
Chen (陳士良) yesterday was that Gambian President Yahya Jammeh considered the
limit of Taiwan’s financial assistance for Gambia to not be in the “strategic
national interests” of his country, diplomatic sources said.
In response to Jammeh’s decision to break off relations with Taiwan on Nov. 14
for reasons of “strategic national interests,” the Taiwan government on Monday
announced the termination of bilateral ties to safeguard the nation’s dignity
and the principles of its foreign aid policy aimed to stop “checkbook
diplomacy.”
At a legislative meeting on Monday, Minister of Foreign Affairs David Lin (林永樂)
said Jammeh had made “exorbitant demands” for aid from Taiwan, in an apparent
move to confirm the assertion made by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator
Lin Yu-fang (林郁方) that Jammeh in January had requested more than US$10 million
in cash without specified purposes.
David Lin told lawmakers at that time that the request by Jammeh was
“unacceptable” and that “we were unable to satisfy his request.”
Diplomatic sources said the ministry yesterday reaffirmed that at the center of
Jammeh’s strategic thoughts on national interests was the scale of foreign aid
his country can receive from Taiwan and other donor nations.
Chen went to the ministry to report to Lin about the case straight from the
airport. The meeting lasted five hours.
The stated purpose of Jammeh’s request of US$10 million was “national security,”
which was more like a blank check than a project-orientated request that has to
be implemented in line with the three principles — justifiable purposes, legal
procedures and effective implementation — under the ministry’s foreign aid
policy, sources said.
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