Taiwanese aid flows in after links with China cut

Burkina Faso continues to reap the financial rewards of cutting diplomatic relations with China 10 years ago in order to establish links with Taiwan instead. The two countries signed an agreement on Thursday that provides for Taiwan to grant the West African country nearly US$14 million for water supply, irrigation and rural development projects over the next three years. Most of the money will be used to sink 1,000 boreholes to provide clean drinking water in villages and build 25 reservoirs to improve irrigation in rural areas. The remainder will be used to improve the roads in five provincial towns. Burkina Faso broke off diplomatic relations with China in 1994 and established formal ties with Taiwan instead. Since then it has received a steady flow of aid from the island state, which China regards as a renegade province of its own territory. The latest $14 million aid agreement on Thursday represents the first tranche of a $32.5 million Taiwanese aid package agreed last year to cover the period 2004-2006.