Having once received help, Taiwan helps others
As the first Taiwanese President to visit Belize, fifty-four year old Chen Shui-bian made history when he arrived this morning at the PGIA. But by now Chen is used to being first. The son of a farmer, Chen excelled in school, studying law in college. In his junior year, he passed the national bar exam with the highest score, becoming at the time his country’s youngest lawyer. In 1979, a human rights incident involving government troops and a group of demonstrators, pulled Chen into politics. In 1981, he was elected to the Taipei City Council with the highest number of votes. But soon, personal and professional turmoil hit the Chen family hard. In 1985, his wife, Wu Sue-jen, was hit by a truck and left paralyzed from her waist down. Then Chen himself, embroiled in legal battles in a libel case, was sentenced to eight months in prison. While he was behind bars, Mrs. Chen was elected to the national legislature. When Chen was released from jail, he served as a legislative assistant to his wife while continuing to practice law. Chen himself was elected to that body in December 1989 and was instrumental in defining Taiwan’s policy on independence and self determination. Chen served in the Legislature until 1994 when he was elected Mayor of Taipei. He lost his re-election bid in 1998 but in 1999, was officially nominated by the Democratic Progressive Party as the presidential candidate in the upcoming election. On March eighteenth, 2000, Chen became president of the Republic of China on Taiwan. During his term, President Chen worked for democratic reform, invoking the laws of his country to hold Taiwan’s first referendum, which coincidentally, took place simultaneously with his second presidential campaign. Chen was re-elected to a second term in March of this year. This afternoon, I had the opportunity to sit down with him in Belize City. He began our conversation reflecting on the reasons why so many of his countrymen now call Belize home.
President Chen Shui-bian, President of China (Taiwan)
“I’m very glad to have this opportunity to come to Belize. Only by coming to Belize in person can I understand why Belize is so beautiful and so charming. This is why so many Taiwanese compatriots come far away to Belize to live in this country.”
“Given that the fact that these people own passports of Belize, they are certainly the citizens of Belize. Although they are coming from Taiwan, they should merge into the society of Belize and become the pride of this great country.”
“I also believe that any country which wants to attract investment and wants to attract talent from foreign countries, they will have certain measures to divide preferential…like taxation measures, for example. Or they are providing permanent living rights or passports for citizenships to these foreign talents and I think these are all normal measures that a country will adopt.”
“Taiwan is an oceanic country so it is normal for Taiwanese people to go to any corners of the world to find their destiny and to seek for development. Many Taiwanese citizens have dual citizenship. They are not only living in Taiwan. Sometimes they live also in other countries. They come back and forth. Not only has this situation happened in Belize, but also in other countries like the United States.”
“Given the fact that these people own the citizenship of Belize, they are certainly obliged to provide contributions to this great country. So I urge these Taiwanese people to fulfil their obligations and responsibilities to be a good citizen of this country.”
Janelle Chanona
“Of late the Republic of China on Taiwan has been consistently described as Belize’s financial angel. But many have perhaps seen this relationship as one-sided, with Belize receiving all the benefits. What is the ROTC’s purpose in financially supporting our country and how is Taiwan prepared to go to aid Belize?”
President Chen Shui-bian
“Taiwan have this achievement nowadays, must be contributed to international aid that we had received in early years, that includes foreign aid from the United States. So, in the receiving state in the past, we certainly know our responsibility nowadays. Today, Taiwan has the capability to provide international aid to our diplomatic allies and as a member of international community, as a member of the global village, we certainly want to help our diplomatic allies. We even want to help those country that we don’t have diplomatic relations with.”
“We certainly hope that Belize, like Taiwan, in the future, that Belize will become a country that provide international aid to other countries, no longer a receiving country.”
Janelle Chanona
“There has been a lot of land speculation by Taiwanese investors, but there is little evidence of actual participation in the long term economic development of Belize. Will your government give strong support, and encourage Taiwanese businesses to invest in Belize?”
President Chen Shui-bian
“I believe that any decisions of investing in Belize must be right. And it doesn’t matter which industries they have decided to invest in. I believe these investments must be diverse and abundant. I know that many Taiwanese-Belizeans have invested in real estate, in garment or in business. These are their own judgments so we have to respect them.”
Janelle Chanona
“As the obvious diplomatic ties continue to strengthen between Belize and Taiwan, will there be an increase in the education and technical programmes between the two countries?”
President Chen Shui-bian
“In addition to the Taiwan scholarship programme that I just mentioned, we have a ROC and Central American Foreign Minister meetings. And during those meetings, we have reached concensus in co-establishing ROC and Central American International Economic Cooperation Foundation. Currently the total amount of the foundation has reached one hundred million US dollars and under this foundation, we will provide our diplomatic allies, including Belize, assistance in many fields.”
“Through the Taiwan scholarship programme, we’ll have more and more Belizean young people come to Taiwan and study in Taiwan and through the volunteers agreement that we signed many years ago, two years ago, maybe, more and more Taiwanese young people come to Belize to serve in Belize. I think these are all very good exchange programmes.”
“And the indoor sports centre that we are going to construct soon will also provide a very good sports facility to Belizean people, especially Belizean young people.”
While in Belize, President Chen is accompanied by members of his cabinet, legislators, municipal representatives, journalists and his official entourage. The Taiwanese delegation departs Belize on Friday morning following ground-breaking ceremonies at the Marion Jones Sports Complex for the construction of an indoor sports stadium. Immediately following this newscast, we will air a short biography of President Chen, courtesy of the government of Taiwan.
