On January 18th, Premier Vincent Siew returned home from Central America. Besides fulfilling his trip's main purpose of cementing international friendships, Premier Siew also observed the results of using investment and trade as the central plank of a pragmatic foreign policy, and resolutely pushed for private enterprises to participate in popular diplomacy.

Continuing the work begun when Vice-President Lien Chan led a delegation to visit the ROC's four Central American allies of Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala at the end of last year, on January 9th, an ROC friendship delegation once again set off to develop top-level diplomatic relations. The itinerary of this trip, led by Premier Vincent Siew, included three allies in the Caribbean region: the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Belize. Those participating included Minister of Foreign Affairs Jason Hu, Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Chih-kang and their wives; Council of Agriculture Chairman Peng Tso-kwei; and Director General of the Government Information Office Chen Chien-jen.

The delegation's first port of call was the Dominican Republic where, as well as meeting with President Fernandez, Premier Siew turned over US$2 million of aid to help develop that country's small- and medium-sized businesses. The two sides signed a joint communique.

News of rioting in Haiti did not deter Premier Siew from keeping to the original itinerary. In Haiti, Premier Siew and Haitian President Rene Preval reached an agreement by which the ROC will assist Haiti in borrowing US$8 million from banks for construction of a highway from the airport to the Port au Prince city center. This will be the first time that a foreign aid project will be open only to tender in Taiwan for domestic engineering companies, thereby stimulating Taiwan's construction industry.

Premier Siew's final stop was in Belize where, in addition to visiting Prime Minister Said Musa and receiving a special medal of honor, he also signed a memorandum with Prime Minister Musa concerning an agreement to safeguard foreign investment and a trade accord aimed at strengthening economic cooperation.

During Premier Siew's visit to Belize however, many overseas Chinese reported threats to their personal safety and property, or discrimination when passing through immigration. Premier Siew reported this to Prime Minister Musa, and instructed the ROC embassy to take care of local overseas Chinese. At the same time he emphasized that all embassies and consulates should give equal treatment to Chinese from the mainland in those countries with diplomatic ties to the ROC. Because Belize, with a population of only 220,000 people, has had a relatively open door policy towards immigration, during recent years when relations across the Taiwan Strait have been strained, the tide of immigration has been large and was heavily promoted by Taiwan's private emigration agents. There are currently some 2,000 Taiwanese emigrants living in Belize.

In addition to reaffirming international friendships, Premier Siew gave particular emphasis on this trip to encouraging private investment. He points out that manufacturers and firms investing in Caribbean allies of the ROC will not only be near the American market, and enjoy preferences under the US Caribbean Basin Initiative, but will also enjoy the additional level of protection afforded by the formal diplomatic relationship. In order to encourage private sector investment, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have drawn up a series of subsidies designed to encourage investment by private businesses in allied nations. These include preferential loans, tax incentives to offset capital investment and subsidies for entrepreneurs' fact-finding missions, which are all aimed at promoting economic ties with allied nations.

With members of the Fourth Legislative Yuan taking up their posts on February 1st, Premier Siew, out of respect for presidential authority and to show political accountability, offered his resignation to the president as soon as the friendship delegation had returned home. Having been reappointed to his position and having made minor changes to the cabinet, he will continue on his mission of leading a "proactive cabinet" to raise the nation's competitiveness and restructure the government, thus moving forward into the 21st century.

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While visiting the Carribean, Premier Vincent Siew met with the leaders of those nations with which Taiwan has formal diplomatic relations. The picture shows President Fernandez of the Domincan Republic with Premier Siew. (courtesy of the Government Information Office)