Taiwans Dollar Diplomacy in Gambia

By Dave Durbach

Most of Taiwan's 20-odd allies are small, poor countries. While they play a part in legitimizing Taiwanese sovereignty, those who are ideologically pragmatic have benefited from the Taiwan-China feud by playing one off against the other, switching allegiance to the highest bidder.

It's this flawed and futile logic that drives Taiwan's foreign aid policy, often admonished as ``dollar diplomacy.''

Taiwan has established technical missions in countries where it receives political recognition, with money channeled through its International Cooperation and Development Fund (ICDF).

In the tiny west African state of Gambia, the fund provides money, technology and expertise for a number of agricultural projects.

By 2006, Taiwan had shifted its attention beyond agriculture, investing heavily in Gambian technology and education.

Often Taiwan has simply provided checks ― for example, $500 000 from Taitek Electronics to purchase motorbikes for the African Union Summit in the capital Banjul in June 2006.

Taiwan has also donated military equipment ― in March 2007, $50 000 worth of equipment from the Nova Marine Company to the Gambian Navy, to be used on two patrol ships donated in 1999, following a similar donation in 2005.

Most news regarding Taiwan-Gambia relations comes from the pro-government Daily Observer. According to Reporters Without Borders, there is ``absolute intolerance of any form of criticism'' of President Yahya Jammeh's government.

Look deeper and it's clear that Jammeh is no stranger to controversy, allegedly intimidating and threatening local businessmen to make ``donations'' to government projects, which instead go straight to his personal slush fund. Jammeh is implicated in a long list of dodgy dealings, including smuggling blood diamonds.

Despite Gambia being one of Africa's smallest and poorest countries, the online Freedom Newspaper reveals that since coming to power in 1994, Jammeh has emerged as one of ``Africa's richest'' presidents, owning a huge array of assets, from farms to hotels and private jets to construction companies.

It stands to reason that Taiwan is implicated; yet given the lack of press freedom in the country, criticism of Taiwan is also often censored. Nevertheless, the Taiwanese government is coming under increasing scrutiny for aiding and abetting corruption in Gambia.

Despite the allegations, Taiwan has in the past few months picked up the pace of aid to the country, frantically trying to maintain a foothold in Africa as China pours billions of dollars into the continent.

Over the years, Gambia has been one of Taiwan's most vocal allies. Given the size and standing of the country, however, this hasn't exactly been a huge asset.

When Taiwan inaugurated its new President Ma Ying-jeou on May 21, Gambian Vice President Isatou Njie-Saidy was on hand to meet her new benefactor.

The next day, as the Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs released an official statement thanking supporters of another failed bid to join the World Health Organization, Njie-Saidy caught the new President by surprise when she handed him a letter from President Jammeh bluntly requesting more aid and a delay in the payment of past debts.

June was a particularly busy month between the two nations, with a new ambassador taking office in Banjul, donating money to villagers who lost their homes in a storm, over 100 tons of rice seeds to the Department of State for Agriculture, and a tidy $300,000 to the President's Empowerment of Girls Education Project (PEGEP).

Most prominent in the media was the return of 25 Gambians with petrochemical engineering degrees from the National Taipei University of Technology.

The government of Taiwan has since sent another group of 25 to study Information and Communication Technology, and a third batch of students will leave this month on civil engineering scholarships.

The petrochemical engineers are testament to President Jammeh's very public conviction that Gambia has its own oil.

Since he first made the announcement in early 2004, however, oil is yet to be found, prompting suggestions that the oil-talk is little more than a strategy to attract investment, or an attempt to garner political clout on the international stage.

Jammeh's personal insecurities and political shortcomings are two sides of the same coin. Aside from apparently well-intended acronyms like GSVA (Gambia Silicon Valley of Africa) 2020, National Information & Communication Infrastructure (NICI), and OPECS Operation Promote Excellence in the Sciences (OPECS), Jammeh has put his foot in it too many times to ever be taken seriously.

In early 2007, he horrified scientists and foreign diplomats by claiming to have found a cure for AIDS: a mysterious green herbal paste, personally administered by the president, followed by a bitter yellow drink and two bananas.

He did it again in May this year, telling a political rally that gay people had 24 hours to leave the country, threatening to ``cut off the head'' of any gay person in the country.

In January this year, Jammeh announced the discovery of a variety of minerals, including uranium and gold. And in June, he proudly announced the discovery of ``huge'' deposits of iron ore (refusing to reveal an exact location) and accepted a check for almost $200,000 from the Gulf-based East Line Company.

One wonders what Taiwan thinks about all of this. Yes, they're building schools, but any way one looks at it, they're also backing a dictator. And this, ironically, in an attempt to gain international legitimacy. It's a no win-situation.

Taiwan's reputation suffers, Jammeh is given the means to dig himself deeper into a hole, the Gambian people grow ever more disillusioned, and Africa's reputation for corruption is vindicated.

And with China knocking, Jammeh could switch allegiance at any time, wasting years of work and millions of dollars.

Realizing this, President Ma Ying-jeou has said Taiwan will stop using money to maintain diplomatic allies and has suggested a ``diplomatic truce'' with China. A wise move, and a warning bell for crooked regimes to get their houses in order.

The writer is a South African teaching English in Chungju, North Chungcheong Province. He can be reached at durbdev@yahoo.co.in.