Taiwan Shows Interest In Panama Canal Expansion

PANAMA CITY – Taiwan’s foreign minister announced this week that his country is interested in participating in the project to enlarge the Panama Canal, if the Central American country’s voters approve the project in an Oct. 22 referendum.

“We are willing and ready to participate in the canal enlargement,” James Huang said as he emerged from a meeting with Panamanian Vice-President Samuel Lewis and other top officials.

Huang recalled that Taiwan is one of the waterway’s principal users because of its large volume of international trade.

Lewis said that in the meeting with Huang, they reviewed the bilateral agenda and the joint programs that Taiwan has developed in Panama.

The Panamanian foreign minister said they also worked on their agenda for cooperation, part of which is already under way in the agriculture, fishing and educational sectors through a scholarship program.

“But we are identifying areas for a greater degree of cooperation in the future,” Lewis said.

The Taiwanese foreign minister also met Monday with President Martín Torrijos, and later visited the Miraflores locks to observe the canal in operations.

Panama and its Central American neighbors are among the two dozen world nations that maintain diplomatic relations with Taiwan, considered a rebel province of China by the Communist government in Beijing.