Suriname delegation heads to China
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| Published on Friday, June 8, 2007 |
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PARAMARIBO, Suriname (AFP): Surinames vice president Ramdien Sardjoe was due to leave for China Thursday at the head of an 11-strong delegation, amid a battle for influence in Latin America between Beijing and Taipei.
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Suriname Vice-President Ram Sardjoe
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Sardjoe said the visit had nothing to do with a recent offer from Taiwan to open diplomatic ties in exchange for a million-dollar grant.
The small former Dutch colony of Suriname tucked in the northeast corner of South America had pledged to continue to observe the one-China policy, Sardjoe said.
But the visit comes as Costa Rica announced it was severing ties with Taiwan, acknowledging that Beijing's growing might had finally trumped its long allegiance to Taipei.
Sardjo will meet with Chinese officials to discuss local housing projects with Beijing financing the construction of 200 low income homes in the remote Tout Le Faut area, said Social Affairs Minister Hendrik Setrowidjojo.
On the way back to Suriname, the vice president will be joined by Foreign Minister Lygia Kraag-Keteldijk to attend a heads of government meeting of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) in Washington on June 20.
The Caricom heads are likely to meet US President George W. Bush. Sardjoe will represent President Ronald Venetiaan.
Suriname, which has a population of less than 500,000, established diplomatic ties with China in 1976.
China has funded several projects running into millions of dollars in Suriname, including the construction of a new foreign affairs ministry, roads, housing and fishery projects.
Taiwan, which split from China in 1949 after a bitter civil war, has longed battled to win international recognition as an independent nation.
Latin America, the South Pacific and Africa have been the main diplomatic battlegrounds for China and Taiwan, which have accused each other of luring allies away with "checkbook diplomacy."
Since 2000, Chad, Dominica, Grenada, Liberia, Macedonia, Senegal and Vanuatu have also switched recognition to China from Taiwan, leaving just 24 countries that officially recognize Taipei.
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