Dear Editor,
IN an interesting interview broadcast by Radio New Zealand International (RNZI) today, Thursday 19 October 2017, Auckland University Professor Stephen Hoadley said (and I quote).
“President Tsai is trying to shore up relations with the Pacific bloc to prevent her country from becoming diplomatically isolated.
“This would certainly sweeten the feeling in the Pacific islands,” Mr Hoadley said.
“It would show that Taiwan is a wealthy country that does have resources, it can help the small impoverished Pacific island states in significant ways, in health, education as one, and tropical agriculture as a second.”
“The president will travel to three of Taiwan’s six allies in the region, Tuvalu, the Marshall Islands and Solomon Islands.
“Other countries recognise China instead of Taiwan in line with China’s “One China” policy.”
In my own letters to the local Solomon Islands media these last few days, I have made a couple of appeals to the government of the Republic of China (on Taiwan) to consider helping the NRH with the acquisition of an urgently needed CT scanner and with the rebuilding of the Rehabilitation Workshop and re-stocking it with equipment to see the 400 or more ex-patients of the NRH awaiting prosthetic limbs to accelerate their personal rehabilitation.
While personally very appreciative of all that the ROC Government has done to aid medical causes in the Solomon Islands my appeals have certainly not been as presumptive as the words and predictions of Professor Stephen Hoadley.
Yours sincerely
Frank Short
