The announcement came less than 24 hours before the premier was to depart for Chad to attend the inauguration of Chadian President Idriss Deby, who was re-elected to a third term in May. The ROC foreign ministry announced that Su had canceled the trip.
"The move which blocked me from representing President Chen to attend President Deby's inaugural ceremony was not just a matter of my personal honor, but also was a deliberate act by China to embarrass Taiwan and squeeze our diplomatic space," Su told reporters. He warned them that the leadership in Beijing has absolutely no scruples, and that Taiwan should not maintain any illusions about what China has planned for Taiwan. He said that the sudden change in diplomatic recognition from Chad has already taught the people of Taiwan a lesson in international realpolitik.
The premier said that he and President Chen Shui-bian had discussed the issue of ROC-Chad relations shortly after N'Djamena notified Taipei of the switch in official recognition. They were both briefed by Foreign Minister James Huang. It is time to re-examine the old thinking of Taiwan's policy-making guidelines on foreign affairs, Su said.
On Aug. 6, Huang gave a news briefing in which he publicly announced that "at 10 p.m. local time, the deputy foreign minister of Chad formally informed us that they are cutting off diplomatic relations with us and setting up ties with the People's Republic of China. The deputy foreign minister also handed over a letter to our ambassador in Chad from President Deby to President Chen."
In that letter, the contents of which were later made public by MOFA, Deby declared that he had to make the decision for the very survival of his country. In Huang's opinion, Deby struggled over the decision of whether or not to cave to Chinese pressure to recognize Beijing.
The duly elected government of Chad is beset by heavily armed rebels who operate from the sanctuary of neighboring Sudan. There have been reports that those very rebels are receiving armed support from the Chinese government, allowing them to continue their armed incursions into Chad and adding to the violence in the Sudan. In order to deal with the problem, the government of Chad requested help from the United Nations, but China is a permanent member of the Security Council, and has reportedly threatened to veto any U.N. assistance to N'Djamena unless it cut its ties with Taipei.
China's political pincer maneuver on Chad--by supplying arms to insurgents on the one hand while wielding its veto power to halt a United Nations response on the other--arguably put Deby in an impossible situation, and opinion in Taiwan is divided on the issue; between pity for the Chadian people for being held hostage by Beijing in such a way, and anger at losing another diplomatic ally.
During the briefing, Huang revealed that the ROC president had telephoned Deby just 10 days prior to Su's planned departure to inform the president of the premier's upcoming trip. On the phone, the Chadian president expressed a warm welcome to Su and promised Chen that his country would maintain ties with Taiwan.
MOFA had obtained intelligence, however, that Chad's Foreign Minister Ahmat Allami, who was in Paris at the time, was planning to fly to China to advance the establishment of a bilateral relationship with the communist regime, according to Huang. On the afternoon of Aug. 5, Taipei sent an ultimatum to N'Djamena, demanding an explanation as to the whereabouts of its foreign minister. "Lying to Taiwan was extremely unfriendly behavior by Chad," Huang said.
Taiwan has provided tens of millions of dollars worth of financial aid for health, agricultural and infrastructure projects in Chad since 1997. Su ordered the Foreign Ministry to continue providing scholarships to 17 Chadian students who are currently studying in Taiwan, at least until they have completed their studies.