Dominican Republic-China courtship heats up as Taiwan cools

Santo Domingo.- TheDominican Republic and China continue their unofficial meetings despite a lackof diplomatic ties, to the chagrin of Taiwan, which continues its investmentsand cooperation with the Caribbean nation of 10 million.

Representatives from bothgovernments will host a gathering next week to explore investment opportunitiesand expand trade and tourism, by in a press conference, Economy minister TemístoclesMontas announced Wednesday.

The symposium was announcedby International Cooperation Deputy minister Inocencio Garcia and China CommercialOffice representative Gao Shoujian, accompanied by Tourism Deputy minister FaustoFernandez.

Garcia said inaddition to the Economy Ministry, the symposium is hosted by the Ministries ofTourism and of Industry and Commerce, the China business offices in the countryand of the Dominican Republic in China, and the Dominican Exports and InvestmentCenter (CEI-RD).

Strained ties

On Wed. a Taiwan legislative committee adopted a resolution to freeze some of Tapei’s financial aid to the Dominican Republic, to prod its authorities to step up the effort to solve the murder of a Taiwanese diplomat in Santo Domingo more than three years ago, focustaiwan.tw reports from Taiwan’s capital.