Taiwan's Aid to Ukraine：Another Instance of Corruption？
The Storm Media Editorial, May 8, 2024
With Legislator Hsu Chiao-hsin as the main target, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has been excited with collective witch-hunting. However, this rookie legislator became even braver in the fight, questioning instead how Taiwanese medical supply companies got the bid for 30 to 40 percent of the US$10 million fund to jointly assist Ukraine, a deal signed by Taiwan and the Czech Republic December last year. The issue lies not with assisting Ukraine or providing aid via a third party but in insisting that the name of the Taiwanese companies that won the bid cannot be revealed!
It is the duty of a legislator to supervise the executive branch. So it is puzzling that the Ukraine assistance project cannot go public. This project of $10 million paled in comparison with the U.S. Department of State’s US$60 billion aid to Ukraine. Don’t tell me that this project, like the report on the Medigen COVID-19 vaccine, will be sealed for 30 years!
Faced with a unique international environment, Taiwan's recourse to "money diplomacy" is full of regrets: Taiwan's $300 million aid to the Republic of Kosovo after the war went down the drain. The $150 million aid to Macedonia only managed to maintain diplomatic relations for less than 2 years. A jaw-dropping case is the scandal on aid to Papua New Guinea. To establish diplomatic relations with this country, then-Secretary-General Chiu Yi-jen of the National Security Council and then-Minister of Foreign Affairs Huang Chih-fang retained diplomatic brokers. However, not only did the case fail miserably, but these two brokers also embezzled $29.8 million of the aid fund, which led to an international lawsuit.
A recent case is that the DPP administration paid former UK Prime Minister Liz Truss an honorarium of $32 million during her visit to Taiwan last May, a price way over her rate in other countries.
In the past, the DPP had criticized the KMT for conducting "money diplomacy" to win international friendship. After DPP took over, its "money diplomacy" worsened.
The DPP administration has always favored its own members without any share for others. From the DPP legislators supporting sealing the report on government procurement of Medigen COVID-19 vaccines for 30 years, to small eateries becoming rapid antigen test medical device dealers, to Ultra Source Limited, with a capital of only NT$500,000 (about US$17,000) enjoying special privileges and making a fortune importing 88.14 million rotten Brazilian eggs to Taiwan during its egg shortage. This has been the “new normal” under the DPP administration. No wonder the opposition questioned that there is something fishy in the assistance to Ukraine project. Or is the project just a "cover" for another "corruption"?