No rift with Panama: Presidential Office

(Editor's Note: Another indication from Taiwan indicating how worried they are about the potential for Panama to change recognition from Taiwan to the PRC.)

SPAT: A controversial news report in Panama alleging that President Chen Shui-bian made insulting comments is groundless, the Presidential Office said yesterday By Chiu Yu-Tzu
STAFF REPORTER
Tuesday, Oct 25, 2005,Page 3

A recent Spanish-language news report in Panama playing up the uncertainty of Taiwan's diplomatic relations with that country is entirely groundless, the Presidential Office said yesterday, adding that both Panama and Taiwan attended the Fifth Summit of the Republic of China (ROC) and Central America last month in Nicaragua, which proves that the ties between them remain firm.

The controversial news report was published last Friday by La Prensa, one of the major national newspapers in Panama.

According to the report, some Panamanian members of the legislature and former high-ranking officials publicly asked President Martin Torrijos to terminate dip-lomatic ties with Taiwan without delay. This was because of an allegedly inappropriate statement by President Chen Shui-bian at a press conference held on Sept. 26, just prior to the summit, the newspaper reported.

The report claimed that Chen said: "Torrijos told me `you don't have to come to Panama because I will directly go to Managua.' We are such good brothers."

Chen's comment displeased many Panamanian officials, who felt insulted, the report said.

In response to the report, Presidential Office Deputy Secretary-General James Huang who attended the summit with Chen, said that he would not be surprised that some political figures seized on Chen's remarks to exaggerate matters, because Panama's politics has been complex for a long time.

"We very much regret this kind of news report. However, we have not received any information about changes to our diplomatic ties," Huang said.

Huang said that Chen merely gave some background illustrating Torrijos' support for the summit.

"There was nothing wrong in terms of diplomatic formalities," Huang said.

According to Huang, Torrijos attended the summit of his own accord. In a bid to add depth to the signing of a free-trade agreement with Taiwan, Torrijos had also as-ked some of his high-ranking offic-ials in charge of economic affairs to go with him, Huang said.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday reiterated that Taiwan's diplomatic ties with Panama had not changed at all.

"We should see the existence of different opinions in the society of a democratic country such as Panama as normal," MOFA spokesman Michel Lu said.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Mark Chen, who also attended the summit, said yesterday that Torrijos had promised to attend the summit.

He said that different views regarding the forging of formal relat-ions with China still exist inside Panama.

See the Original Story in the Taipei Times: http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2005/10/25/2003277283