As 1997 began, the governments on either side of the Taiwan Strait became embroiled in a diplomatic war. From the ROC, Vice President and Premier Lien Chan and Foreign Minister John Chang embarked on fruitful trips to Central America, Europe and Africa. The PRC, meanwhile, sent Foreign Minister Qian Qichen on a trip to Africa, and then used its veto in the UN Security Council to oppose a resolution to help keep the peace in Guatemala after its long civil war, thus issuing a warning to Taiwan's good friend Guatemala and casting another dark cloud over the ROC's foreign relations. On another front, Lien Chan, acting as the president's special envoy, paid a visit to the Vatican, where he had an audience with the Pope and discussed how the two states could work toward their shared goals of protecting people's freedom and peace. Lien Chan conveyed to the Pope the respectful best wishes of all of Taiwan's people and support for the Pope's New Year's campaign of promoting forgiveness and peace. These events show in stark contrast the different attitudes the ROC and PRC hold about universal human values.

On the afternoon of January 7, Vice President and Premier Lien Chan, acting as the president's special envoy, led a delegation to Nicaragua to attend the inauguration of Nicaragua's President Arnoldo Aleman, and meet with leaders of other Central American nations that have formal relations with the ROC (Panama, Honduras, Costa Rica, and El Salvador) who were also in attendance. In so doing, he shored up relations with these nations and laid the ground work for President Lee Teng-hui's September trip to Central America. Lien then headed off to Europe to pay a visit to the Vatican, a leg of his journey that had not been revealed at the outset.

Vice President Lien had a very tight itinerary in Nicaragua, arriving there on the ninth and attending Aleman's inauguration the following day. During the luncheon banquet, he had separate discussions with President Ernesto Perez Balladares of Panama, President Carlos Roberto Reina of Honduras, and President Jose Maria Figures of Costa Rica. President Balladares made a special point of welcoming President Lee's September visit when Lee will attend a conference about the Panama Canal. In the afternoon Lien met with Nicaraguan President Aleman and presented the Council for Economic Planning and Development's "Plan for Strengthening Trade and Economic Cooperation Between Taiwan and Central America." He also held a 40-minute discussion with President Calderon Sol of El Salvador, during which he conveyed the best wishes of President Lee Teng-hui. President Sol welcomed Lee Teng-hui's September trip and stressed that El Salvador treasured its friendship with the ROC. Sol also made special reference to the threatening actions the PRC has recently taken toward Guatemala. In regard to the United Nation's Security Council being unable to send military observers to Guatemala to help keep the peace, Sol urged Guatemala not to buckle under this pressure from the mainland, arguing that Central American countries could work together to resolve this problem on their own.

While in Nicaragua Lien Chan also took advantage of an opportunity to meet with Vice President Radhakishum of Suriname. Suriname, the only Dutch-speaking South American country, does not have official diplomatic relations with the ROC. Reportedly, Lien Chan and Radhakishum sat next to one another at the inauguration and struck up a pleasant conversation. Then and there they decided to have their staffs arrange a meeting between the two, which went quite well. Both leaders expressed willingness to take further steps to strengthen relations between the two nations.

At the same time as the ROC was engaged in strengthening its ties with Central American nations, on the evening of January 10 at the United Nations Security Council, the PRC exercised its veto powers for the first time in 25 years to prevent 155 military observers from going to keep the peace in Guatemala in the aftermath of its 36-year civil war. A negotiated peace settlement had just been signed at the end of last year. At the Security Council many countries expressed their regrets about the PRC's veto, but PRC UN Ambassador Qin Huasun was adamant in declaring that the veto was "wholly the result of the Guatemalan government's own errors." He accused Guatemala of engaging in activities to break apart China by inviting ROC Foreign Minister John Chang to attend the signing of the peace ceremony at the end of last year and then refusing to apologize to mainland China. Moreover, for the last four years running, Guatemala has submitted resolutions for the ROC to join the United Nations. (Later the PRC reversed its position and voted in favor of sending the military observers when, it is suggested, Guatemala agreed not to cosponsor any more resolutions to admit the ROC to the United Nations.)

Before the dust had settled regarding the PRC's UN Security Council veto, ROC Foreign Minister John Chang and PRC Foreign Minister Qian Qichen at virtually the same time made trips to Africa to visit countries with which their respective nations have relations, taking the diplomatic war from Central America to a new theater in Africa across the Atlantic.

Chang visited Malawi, Swaziland, Gambia, Guineau-Bissau, Senegal, and Burkina Faso, but the main purpose of the trip was to go to South Africa for a second round of discussions on the future of relations between Taiwan and South Africa after Pretoria shifts recognition from the ROC to the PRC in 1998. At the same time that Chang was in South Africa holding these talks, PRC Foreign Minister Qian Qichen was in the small country of Venda, which is entirely enclosed within South Africa. The two were so close that they were practically engaged in hand-to-hand combat.

On another battlefront, after Lien Chan's visit to Central America, he went to Europe via the US. On January 14, accompanied by Raymond Tai, the ROC ambassador to the Vatican, he went for an audience with Pope John Paul II and held a meeting with Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican's secretary of state. The private audience with the Pope lasted for 35 minutes. The talk focused on the future of relations between the two nations, about which the two countries have deeply held shared ideals. Besides passing on a letter from President Lee Teng-hui and conveying the respectful best wishes of the entire nation, Lien also invited the Pope to consider visiting Taiwan on a future pastoral tour. The Pope also mentioned that he often prayed for Taiwan.

Before returning to Taiwan, Lien Chan's delegation, as expected, went to another European nation on a mission of "academic diplomacy." This time Lien went to historic Trinity College Dublin, where he spoke with Provost Tom Mitchell about increasing academic exchange between the two nations. Somewhat earlier, a former vice president of Ireland paid him a short visit. When it was mentioned that these were not official state visits, Lien Chan told the media that he had nonetheless seen whom he had wanted to see and accomplished what he had wanted to accomplish. As for when the next diplomatic battles would come, Lien Chan, weary from his long diplomatic travels, didn't say, but come they will.

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When Lien Chan met Pope John Paul II, the two men got along well, and the meeting lasted nearly twice the scheduled 20 minutes. (photo by Li Pei-hwei)