Taiwan spent US$20 million on the Congress: reports
Taiwan News
Date: 2017/04/01
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer
TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Protesters in Paraguay set fire to the Congress building
A protester carries a chair to a fire outside the congress building during clashes between police and protesters opposing an approved proposed constitutional amendment that would allow the election of a president to a second term, in Asuncion, Paraguay, Friday, March 31, 2017. Some protesters broke through police lines and entered the first floor, where they set fire to papers and furniture. Police used water cannon and fired rubber bullets to drive demonstrators away from the building while firefighters extinguished blazes inside. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)
funded by Taiwan to the tune of US$20 million (NT$632 million), reports said Saturday.
The protests erupted in response to a secret vote by the Senate in favor of an amendment allowing the country’s president to run for a second term. Paraguay is the only one of Taiwan’s 21 official diplomatic allies situated in South America, and in the past the Asian island was generous with aid to counter attempts by China to undermine its international position.
The competition between the two sides for diplomatic allies was often criticized as “dollar diplomacy.”
According to reports in the Paraguayan media, not just the building, but also the laptops of the 125 members of Congress were funded by Taiwan. [FULL STORY]
